Season's End
by Yuki Seki
Summary: Future Revised #3. It's the end of summer, high school exams are looming but the 10th Gen Vongola is juggling studying with preparations for Vongola Nono's imminent arrival. Haru is learning to navigate Mafia politics and manage an intelligence network. When a death threat is leveled at the 9th, the others suspect the Trabuchet, but Haru has a feeling it's something else. COMPLETE!
1. Prologue: From the Shadows

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Good morning (at least it is in my stretch of the world) and welcome to "Season's End" the third installment in my "Future Revised" series. If you haven't already read them, the previous stories in the series are "Haru's Resolve" and "The Oncoming Storm". This one is destined to be a bit shorter than the previous two and picks up pretty much where "The Oncoming Storm" left off.

If you don't want to pick up two complete stories in the 30K+ area, a quick summary is that after returning from the future (Ten Years Later Arc), Haru wanted to do anything in her power to prevent a future like the one she'd just returned from. She found her own tutor to learn how to fight and defend herself and those she cared about. Gokudera became her partner and a tutor as well to help her navigate the Mafia world and they've also become a couple. Along the way Haru has met several other people, primarily the Hanatachi Clan and Akai (one of the members of the Clan) has become her good friend treating her as a "little sister" and also serving as a teacher. While she still has a long way to go, Haru is working diligently to carve out her place in Vongola history and help Judaime realize his goals for the Vongola Famiglia.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Akira Amano-sensei. The storyline and original characters are, as always, the products of my far too active imagination.

Thank you for taking the time to read (and review if you get a chance).

Next update will be on October 30th.

With regards,

Yuki Seki

* * *

**Target 00-03: From the Shadows**

Silk rustled as the woman entered her office, the weak sunlight pouring through one of the curtains catching at the wings of silver in her dark hair. Bells attached to the kanzashi in her hair jingled softly as she sat at the elegant writing desk that was the central focus of the small office. She lit the lamp, letting the smell of the scented oil circulate in the room before pulling the papers that had accrued overnight in front of her. There was a new report from Namimori and she picked it up, her sources said that the syndicates in the town were having difficulty dealing with the interlopers—idly she wondered if it was a request for help. Skimming through the information, a smile curved ruby painted lips and she reached for her phone. She dialed a familiar number and waited until it was picked up.

"Sawada."

"Good morning, Sawada-san. I just had an interesting report cross my desk. If you've time, I'd like some more details."

"What kind of details?" Iemitsu Sawada questioned. "I sent you all of the particulars on the Trabuchet as per our agreement."

"It is not that Trabuchet that interest me, Sawada-san. We've already taken preventative measures—we've quite enough to juggle here in Kyoto without that particular bother," the woman said. "You have our gratitude for the photos and descriptions of the ones known as Emri and Claude. We will keep an ear to the ground on them as well and if we hear or see anything you'll be the first to know."

"You have my thanks," Iemitsu said. "If it's not the Trabuchet that interest you, what caught your eye?"

A long-nailed finger traced over the image of a girl with kanzashi in her hair. The image was grainy and had apparently been pulled from the security cameras at the Trabuchet headquarters, but there was something very familiar about the girl. "There is a girl amongst the future Decimo's group. She does not wear the ring of a Vongola Guardian, but she seems to be very close to the inner circle…" she murmured. "The girl wears kanzashi and uses Lightning Flames like another I once knew…"

"What of her?"

"I would like to test her, Sawada-san."

"Oh?"

"Might I have your permission?"


	2. Ch 1: Impending Doom

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: I am up way too early today so have a new chapter *laughs* If you'd like to keep track of time, it's roughly the beginning of August now (story time). Tanabata is generally held around July 7th and the Japanese schools generally have summer break from late July to the beginning of September according to my research (yes, I do some research even if it's fan fiction *laughs*).

Next month is Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) and I am going to be concentrating on the first book of a possible trilogy that I want to eventually get polished enough to try and publish, so there won't be a lot of fan fiction writing over the next thirty-three days. Lucky for me, I've got a bit of a buffer so this story will continue on and my readers won't have to wait a month for the next chapter.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is the property of Akira Amano and I don't own any of it, what is mine are my original characters and this particular storyline.

I will be updating this on a bi-weekly basis (as I've done for most of my other stories). Thank you for taking the time to read my story (and review if you get a chance), I appreciate it ^_^

Next chapter will be out around 11/13/14.

After I finish up the madness of Nanowrimo I will be writing a holiday-themed fic, but I have to decide which fandom I want to write it in ^_^

Thanks again!

~ Yuki

* * *

**Target 01-03: Impending Doom**

The cicadas burred as the summer sun climbed higher in the sky. Haru Miura could even hear them through the closed windows of the study room in the Namimori Library. Books were scattered over the table, interspersed with papers marked in various highlighted colors with colored tabs sticking out from each one.

Haru had been at the library since it opened, going over everything in detail trying to figure out how she'd only scored eighty-six on the practice test for Takanamori. A score like that could get her into Takanamori High, but it would be more likely to put her on the waiting list. That kind of score _never_ crossed Haru's desk—or at least it hadn't until the world of the Mafia collided with her academic world.

Now that things had quieted down from the conflict with the Trabuchet, Haru was determined to catch up on all the things she'd missed that put her acceptance at Takanamori in doubt. Kyoko had withdrawn from the study group at her parents' insistence and was spending a lot of time at a cram school designed to get her into one of the high-ranking schools in Okinawa where she'd be moving at the end of the school year. The pencil lead cracked as that thought swam into Haru's head and she forced herself to calm down and clicked more lead out of the mechanical pencil and set it to the paper.

In Haru's opinion, Kyoko's parents were being horribly unfair separating her from all of her friends here in Namimori. It was bad enough they were going to force her to move down to Okinawa of all places, but they'd all but forbidden Kyoko from interacting with them except at school and controlled situations. From what Chrome was saying, Kyoko's smile wasn't entirely hiding her misery, but as Kyoko always did she was moving forward and trying to keep Tsuna and the others in the dark so she didn't trouble them.

Haru sighed.

She couldn't say that she didn't understand why Kyoko's parents were doing it. If she'd had a daughter who'd formerly led a very safe, charmed life and suddenly she was getting hurt in explosions that seemed to be linked to the company she kept, she probably would do the same thing. It still didn't mean it was fair to isolate her from her friends. She and Kyoko had managed to meet up for a few excursions to go eat cake and talk, but those occasions had to be snuck in just before cram school or if Kyoko's cram school let out early.

There was a rap on the door and Haru glanced up and saw a flash of silver hair outside before it opened and Gokudera entered. "It's about time for the meeting, are you ready?" he asked.

Haru's eyes widened and her gaze flew to the clock. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize what time it was," she exclaimed and scrambled to gather all the papers and books together.

Gokudera shook his head and moved forward to help her collect everything. "That eighty-six is really bothering you isn't it?" he said.

"Wouldn't it bother you?" Haru retorted. "Mr. I-scored-ninety-five-and-didn't-even-study."

Gokudera shifted uncomfortably under her glare. "Well…I…"

"I'll be going to some remedial classes starting next week," Haru said. "I won't let that eighty-six stand. I refuse."

"Whoa, Haru—calm down…" he said, reaching out.

Haru knocked his hand away and glared up at him for a long moment before they both dissolved into laughter. They finished collecting the stuff and Gokudera shouldered Haru's bag before she could protest. "I'll help you go through some more of the problems tonight when we get home. Judaime and Yamamoto are both already in remedial courses because the administrators are worried that they'll even pass the tests to get out of middle school. How did Akai do?"

"Akai doesn't really care how she does on the exam," Haru said testily. "She already has to mess with the school records once the new school year starts in order to get in so why not put in her own scores for the exam while she's at it."

"Hasn't she been studying just as hard as the rest of you?" Gokudera frowned.

"Well, yes, but that's to keep up appearances, she's older than us you know," Haru said as they made their way out of the library. "She can't even technically get into Takanamori."

"I want to know where she gets her computer skills," Gokudera mumbled. "Do you know how much easier life would be if I could just mess with records like that? Judaime would pass with flying colors and…"

"And every single person in the entire district will know something isn't right," Haru interrupted. "Judaime's academic performance is a bit of a sensation amongst the teaching community—even my father hears about it."

"Seriously?" he asked, glancing down at her.

"Yeah," Haru said. "We just need to keep studying hard and everything will be fine."

"For you and the baseball idiot maybe," Gokudera said.

"I take it your study session with Judaime didn't go well?" Haru asked.

"Well, he got four more questions right than he did last time…" Gokudera said.

"Well that's progress at least," Haru pointed out.

Gokudera gave her a wry smile. "When that means he got fourteen questions right out of eighty-seven?"

"If he keeps progressing like that over the next few months, he should be up to at least seventy questions by the exam?" she suggested.

"Ever the optimist," Gokudera said, lightly bopping her on the head as they paused at the intersection to wait for the crossing signal.

"I have full faith that Judaime will find a way to pull through," Haru said firmly and Gokudera laughed as the signal changed.

They crossed the street and turned towards Take Sushi their hands finding each other's automatically as they moved through the light crowds on the sidewalk. It had been decided that keeping up a meeting between the Vongola Famiglia would be a good idea even if the only thing to report was that nothing was happening. Haru, for one, was glad of the reprieve of excitement in the mafia world so that she could focus more on her studies, on her growing relationship with Gokudera, and on expanding her knowledge and contacts to work on establishing a true intelligence network.

"Have you had a chance to do much more practice?" Gokudera asked.

Haru nodded. "While you've been busy helping Judaime and Yamamoto with some of their work, I've been training at the Broken Butterfly since we don't have a training range that I'm aware of anyway. The ring is becoming easier to manage and I don't feel as drained at the end of the training sessions. I'm not sure how well I'd do with a ring like yours."

Gokudera shrugged, Haru knew that he'd been doing a lot of training too, usually when insomnia struck and that had been happening a lot lately. She'd actually come down in the middle of a few of his sessions and asked to train with him a little bit, but she couldn't keep up with the 'big boys' yet.

Their names echoed down the sidewalk and their hands immediately parted as they turned around to greet Tsuna and Yamamoto. They weren't keeping their relationship a secret, but it wasn't something they really talked about either. Reborn was riding on Yamamoto's shoulder as the Rain Guardian and future Vongola Boss reached them.

"Class ran late?" Gokudera asked.

"No, the teacher kept me for thirty minutes longer because he thought I was sleeping during the main session," Tsuna said. "I was just trying to see the board."

"And you?" Haru asked.

Yamamoto gave her a sheepish grin and ran his hand through his tousled brown hair. "I was actually sleeping," he admitted.

"Neither of you are going to pass the Namimori High exam much less the Takanamori High exam like that," Haru scowled, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at the two.

"Maa, maa, Haru…" Yamamoto said holding his hands up.

"Think about your futures," Haru continued, glaring at both of them. "Even if you plan to play professional baseball," a finger stabbed at Yamamoto and then moved over to Tsuna, "and even if you will be the most powerful man in the mafia world you _need_ to have a decent education under your belt!"

Things had become easier between Haru and the other Vongola over the past three weeks since their victory over the Trabuchet. While there were still times where they seemed to forget that she was actually capable of helping, but for the most part things were good. One of the things that helped restore her spirits was the return to the normalcy in their interactions. Things had changed since she was now a "fighting" member of the Vongola—that was kind of a given—but she felt more at ease now than she had when she first stepped into "active service".

"Well, we're all here now, let's go inside," Reborn said and jumped down off of Yamamoto's shoulder.

"Is Sasagawa-san going to make it today?" Haru asked as she followed them inside.

"He said he might be a little late, Kyoko-chan was doing some shopping and their parents insist he accompany her and bring her back to the house before coming here," Tsuna sighed heavily. "I wish I knew what was going on with Kyoko-chan, she only talks to me at school and isn't returning any calls or texts, but she said she wasn't mad at me when I asked…"

Haru's turned her attention to pulling out her reports for the meeting and the boys didn't seem to notice that she was a little too intent on what she was doing. Haru knew what was going on with Kyoko, but she also knew that her best friend didn't want to tell Tsuna what was happening yet. Haru wondered idly if Kyoko was still trying to convince her parents to let her stay in Namimori and hoping she'd change their mind by the time the school year ended.

Gokudera watched her for a moment and then leaned down. "If you have answers you'd tell me, right?" he murmured.

Haru jumped guiltily and Gokudera's eyes narrowed. The brunette took a deep breath and responded to him in a voice that wouldn't carry beyond them. "I made a promise, Gokudera," she said softly. "I can't break it. It's not something that's dangerous to the Famiglia. Please, trust me?"

Gokudera eyed her for a long moment and then sighed. "All right, as long as it doesn't put Judaime in any danger," he said, also keeping his voice down so it didn't carry to Tsuna who was talking with Yamamoto and his dad.

Her attention was diverted as she considered Tsuyoshi Yamamoto and Haru tapped her lips thoughtfully. There was a niggling feeling in the back of her mind that Yamamoto's dad knew a whole lot more about the world they lived in than he let on, but she hadn't found a convenient moment to ask him or investigate it for herself.

As if feeling her regard, the sushi chef glanced in her direction and cocked an eyebrow in question and she quickly shook her head and turned her attention to the reports.

Ryohei finally arrived thirty minutes later after the first platter of sushi had been consumed and they settled down to discuss business. Haru's reports were much the same as they'd been the last two meetings—no sign of the Trabuchet, Claude and Emri may as well have vanished into thin air, and there was nothing else really going on that she'd heard about. Aside from that she'd finally established a meeting time with the Familia that had been behind the Trabuchet house they'd imprisoned Kyoko in and she would be meeting those leaders in the next week or so.

Once they'd discussed a few other matters, everyone began to gather their things and Reborn cleared his throat. "Tsuna has an announcement before we separate for the day," he said.

Haru stopped what she was doing and turned her attention to the Judaime who looked very uncomfortable. Finally, the Vongola Decimo took a deep breath. "According to the message I received from my father, Kudaime will be on Japanese shores around August 31st. Between now and then we are tasked with making sure everything here in Namimori is under control."

"Haru hasn't picked up anything in the intelligence network to say that there are any threats," Gokudera said. "It should, theoretically, be easy…"


	3. Ch 2: Blood Red Ink

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **And so it begins. Welcome to chapter two of "Season's End". Not much to say, I've got something like 10,000 words I need to write to catch up to my goal for Nanowrimo so I'll keep it short ^_^

**Katekyo Hitman Reborn!** doesn't belong to me it's the property of Akira Amano. The storyline, original characters, and such are mine.

Thank you for taking time to read (and review) if possible ^_^

Next update will be November 27th (or thereabouts since that's Thanksgiving here).

Please enjoy the story.

~ Yuki

* * *

**Target 02-03: Blood Red Ink**

Haru checked over her appearance in the full length mirror in the women's restroom, smoothing the skirt of her brand new suit carefully. Reborn had presented her with the box that contained the suit the night before saying that if she was going to represent the Vongola, she needed to look the part. Traditionally, she was supposed to have an escort for this sort of thing, but Gokudera had gotten caught up in something with Tsuna and Haru couldn't reschedule the meeting to accommodate the change. She took a deep breath and checked her kanzashi and ran her thumb along the back of her ring and then stepped out.

"That's where you were."

Haru jumped and turned to see Yamamoto leaning against the wall and blinked. "Yamamoto?"

"Reborn sent me," he said, taking the briefcase out of her hand.

Takeshi Yamamoto was also dressed in a suit and looked oddly comfortable in it considering Haru didn't usually see him in anything but his baseball uniform or a casual variation on the Namimori Middle uniform. He carried the case for his baseball bats on his shoulder and Haru was pretty sure Shigure Kintoki was in there as well. "So, you're meeting up with that group that owned the house behind where they kept Kyoko?" Yamamoto asked.

"Yes," Haru replied and quickly explained everything that was going on.

Yamamoto nodded as he listened. The two made their way down the hall towards the conference room where she was meeting the representatives of the Hermosillo Familia. Haru hesitated for a moment and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're a team. I've got your back, no matter what," he said.

Haru nodded and knocked politely on the door and heard the call for her to enter.

There were five men and a woman already at the conference table and Haru bowed to them all politely. "Good afternoon, I am Miura Haru," she introduced herself. "Please treat me kindly."

"I expected you to bring more people with you," the woman, Victoria Hermosillo, current head of the Japanese branch of the Hermosillo Familia, observed. "Is one person really enough protection if something were to go wrong, Miura-san?"

It took all of Haru's willpower to keep her expression still, but she didn't miss the narrowing of Yamamoto's eyes in her peripheral. "My associate is Yamamoto Takeshi-san, Tenth Generation Rain Guardian of the Vongola Famiglia," Haru stated calmly.

"What of the fox that always accompanies you?" the woman frowned.

Haru scrambled to figure out who the woman was referring to and finally settled on one possible answer. "This is a meeting between the Vongola Famiglia and the Hermosillo Familia," Haru said. "Isn't it protocol to keep meetings like this between the Families involved instead of bringing in outsiders?"

…Not that Haru considered Akai an outsider and she sent a silent apology to her friend and hoped that she would forgive her for the less-than-respectful reference…

"Is it customary for the great Vongola Famiglia to send teenagers to an adult meeting?" Victoria sneered. "Don't you have school exams to be studying for?

There was a whirring sound and the panel of the table in front of Haru opened and a chair emerged with a suit-clad toddler sipping espresso. "It is customary for the Vongola Famiglia to send those who are most qualified for the particular meeting," Reborn said.

Leon moved around the brim of his fedora and watched the leader of the Japanese faction of the Hermosillo Familia with buggy eyes.

Victoria seemed to shudder back from the chameleon and one of the Japanese men at her back moved to her side and leaned down and whispered something in her ear. Victoria's eyes widened and she regarded the toddler across the table. "You are Reborn?" she asked slowly.

"That is what I'm called, yes," the legendary hitman said. "I am also here to assure you that Haru Miura is the representative of the Vongola Decimo in these particular negotiations and she is fully backed by the Vongola Famiglia."

Haru kept her irritation hidden; she shouldn't need Reborn to validate her claim as representation for the Vongola Famiglia. Yamamoto's hand touched her shoulder briefly and she glanced up and nodded. "Thank you Reborn-san," she said. "Now, Hermosillo-san, let's start our conversation. Three days ago I had a report delivered by courier to your residence and you agreed to meet with me here to discuss the information inside. It's true that I am still a teenager and that I have high school exams to study for. However, I've taken time out of my schedule to speak to you because as a representative of the Vongola Famiglia. I feel it is good practice to establish good relations with other Families that reside here in Namimori as well as Japan in general."

In addition to studying for her high school exam to beat the irritating eighty-six, she'd also been studying various aspects of Mafioso politics and what little information she could find on intelligence networks. She been staying up far too late or getting up far too early to video conference with people around the world in order to get the tutoring that had been arranged for her. Reborn had also generously given some of his time to go over things with her as well.

Haru accepted the documents that Yamamoto handed her and regarded the older woman from across the table. "Shall we begin?"

Victoria Hermosillo looked taken aback by Haru's calmness for a moment before composing her own face into calm. "Of course, Miura-san," she said.

Haru allowed herself a small smile and they settled into the talks.

It was over three hours later when they finally left the conference room and Haru held her head high and kept her posture until they'd exited the building and moved across the street before letting the confident façade drop. "Are you all right, Haru?" Yamamoto frowned.

Haru nodded. "I'm fine," she said, though her voice was fainter than she wanted.

"You did well for your first negotiations, Haru," Reborn said. "There were a few rough spots, but you made a good showing for yourself. I wouldn't consider this alliance in the bag yet though."

Haru nodded. "She was still dancing around with her words at the end of the meeting," she said and then she turned to Yamamoto. "Thank you for coming with me today. Having you there helped."

Yamamoto smiled. "That's what team mates do," he said, "even if I was the pinch hitter. I've got practice, so I'd better go."

"All right, thank you again," Haru smiled.

The baseball player waved and jogged off in the opposite direction.

"Overall, it was better that it was Yamamoto," Reborn said. "He keeps his head better than Gokudera. That's why I sent Tsuna off to train with Gokudera."

"You arranged for Gokudera to get busy?" Haru blinked.

"Gokudera is hot-headed and impulsive. He doesn't always think things through before he acts. He likely would have been dropping dynamite within the first three sentences," Reborn said. "Yamamoto at least considers the scope of the game before making his play. That is the difference between Rain and a Storm."

Haru considered Reborn's words and then nodded slowly. "I think, in time, Gokudera will be very good in those situations, but right now…" she trailed off.

Reborn nodded. "I see you understand."

Haru felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out, turning to apologize to Reborn for the interruption but the former Arcobaleno was nowhere to be found. She shrugged and answered. "This is Miura."

"Haru?"

Haru blinked at the familiar voice, she hadn't recognized the number that popped up on the caller ID. "Gokudera?" she queried.

"Yeah, I dropped my fucking phone and it was eaten by a crocodile while I was with Judaime. I don't have the money to replace it yet so I had to call via public phone," he said. "Where are you now? We're back and I know you said something about grocery shopping today."

"Ah, currently I am about a four blocks from where we had our meeting so, Eighth and Main, I think?" Haru said and glanced at the signs as she came up to them. "Sorry, Ninth. I can meet you at our usual grocery?"

"Sounds good," Gokudera said. "I'll be there in a bit."

Haru hung up the phone and then belatedly realized exactly what Gokudera had said and then giggled. It showed just how much things had changed over the past two and a half years since she first met Reborn and Tsuna and tried to challenge Tsuna. How many people just accepted "my phone was eaten by a crocodile" and continued on with their conversation? The ridiculous had turned into common place since she'd wound up tangled with the Vongola Famiglia.

She arrived at the grocery store and checked the time. She probably still had a few minutes. Reaching into her purse she pulled out the grocery list and went over it quickly, adding a couple things to it and then putting it away before pulling out the small notebook she had scribbled down study problems to look over while she waited.

"The fifth part of the equation is wrong Haru; you didn't calculate step three right."

She jumped and glanced up at Gokudera who'd somehow managed to sneak up behind her and look over her shoulder at what she was looking at. "What, I could have sworn…" Haru began, eyes moving up to the third step.

"You're off by about .03 and while it's not a big deal there, when you hit the fifth things start unraveling if you don't have it," Gokudera said.

Haru hauled out the calculator she had with her and refigured the equation and found that he was right and sighed. "How did I miss that one?" she mumbled.

"We can go over the stuff you have in that book when we get back home if you want?" he suggested. "All the studying in the world won't help if you don't have the right answers to start with."

Haru snapped the book closed and nodded. "I have a few more things I need to add to it anyway," she said. "Shall we?"

Gokudera nodded and she dropped the book back into her bag and her fingers entwined with Gokudera's as they entered the grocery store.

The exited the store with groceries in hand and made their way back home and Gokudera was startled to realize that Haru's house had become 'home'. He glanced down at the brunette who'd shifted her bag to pull out her study guide again, trusting him to keep her from running into people unnecessarily as her brown eyes studied the material contained in the book. As if feeling his regard, she glanced up and cocked her head in question. "Is something wrong, Gokudera?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, want me to carry the other bag?"

"It's okay, I've got it. I won't ever let it be said that Haru Miura doesn't carry her share," she stated.

They wound their way to the house and Gokudera input the security code to open the gate and the two passed through and headed up to the house. Haru shoved the book into her bag and unhooked her keys from her purse and went to open up the door and froze.

Gokudera didn't realize that she'd stopped and ran into her, his quick hands the only thing that steadied her and kept them both from falling down in the middle of the yard and scattering their groceries. "Haru…what…" he trailed off as Haru's bag of groceries was shoved into his hands.

The girl took two quick steps and tugged the piece of paper nailed to the door carefully. "Remind me to get a hammer and yank that later," she said distractedly.

Gokudera put the grocery bags down. "What is that?" he asked.

Haru showed him the letter with her named etched in elegant calligraphy on the front in blood red ink.

"What the hell is that?" Gokudera growled.

"Let's get the groceries inside and we'll find out," Haru said.

"Wait before you go in," Gokudera said. "Someone might be waiting…let me check."

Haru scowled up at him and he glared down at her. "I still know more about this stuff than you do, stupid woman," he stated.

Haru was almost offended by his reference to her, but there was something behind the words that softened it and she decided to forgive him—mostly. "Haru is not stupid," she retorted.

That response drew a chuckle from Gokudera, but his expression quickly shifted and dynamite dropped into his hand as he went to look around the house first. Haru glanced over the door handle and then reached out and lightly tested it—it was still locked and there wasn't any sign of forced entry. The only way they could have gotten in here was if they had a key and the only copies that existed were with her and with her father in London. She hadn't given Gokudera a copy of the key because they were either together or if she was running later, he could stay with Tsuna or go back to his apartment.

"All clear so far," Gokudera announced coming around the opposite side of the house.

"No evidence of forced entry here either," Haru said and slipped her key into the lock and turned it.

The door opened and Gokudera dashed in first and Haru collected the groceries they'd set on the step and moved to the kitchen put them down. She locked the door again and was putting up groceries when Gokudera came back down and announced that it was all clear. Haru nodded and washed the rice setting up the rice cooker for tonight's dinner and put the other perishables away.

"What's it say?" Gokudera asked.

"I haven't looked yet," Haru said. "I'd rather get this stuff put up first because if we have to go running off to figure something else out I don't want it to have to put it up when we get back."

"Then let me…" he began, moving to reach for it.

Haru snatched it from the counter where she laid it and glared at him. "It's addressed to me," she said. "I will read it in a moment."

"Fine," Gokudera snarled and whirled away, "but if it puts Judaime in danger…"

"If I was worried it was about Judaime, I would have opened it the second we saw it," Haru stated.

The rest of the groceries went away in less than five minutes and Haru moved back to the table and settled down to open it. Gokudera had stormed into the other room, his impatience radiating off him in a dark aura. Silently, Haru opened the letter and the demolitionist came into the room summoned by the rustle of paper.

Haru skimmed over the blood red writing inside and her eyes flew to Gokudera. "Judaime isn't in danger…"

"Then what…"

"_To the Honorable Haru Miura._

_There are three weeks before the venerated Vongola Nono returns to Japanese shores. When he steps off the plane in Narita, there will be a gunshot to his head unless you find me first. You will find all the clues that you need if you look correctly. I hope to see you before then._"

"What the hell…" Gokudera mumbled staring at the words in bewilderment.

"It's a very formal letter telling me that if I don't find the writer of this letter before Kudaime comes, he'll be killed," Haru said, it took every bit of control she had to keep her voice level.


	4. Ch 3: Following the Trail

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate and for those who don't, I hope your November went/is going well. It's hard to believe we're so close to the end of 2014 already, feels like yesterday I was just putting out the first part of Oncoming Storm (that happened in February-ish I think) and now I'm up to chapter three of the follow-up. This one isn't generating as much commentary as some of the others, but I'm not sure if it's bad or if everyone is ridiculously busy with finals, the holidays, and everything else going on about this time of year. At any rate, getting this up today so I make sure it's up on time ^_^

KHR isn't mine, it's Akira Amano's, but the original characters, storylines, etc. are creations of mine.

Hope you have a spectacular weekend, next update will be around December 11th.

Thank you for taking the time to read (and review if you get a chance), I appreciate it ^_^

Take care!

* * *

**Target 03-03: Following the Trail**

"It's got to be the Trabuchet! Who else would mess with the Ninth? Especially after that bull shit they just finished pulling."

Gokudera's snarled words echoed through the mostly empty restaurant and Haru sighed inwardly. It had been like this since the letter arrived yesterday until just before they convened an emergency meeting during Take Sushi's prep time. No matter what she said or how many things she pointed out, the Vongola Storm Guardian would not be swayed. Ryohei nodded firmly, fully in accord with Gokudera and the others seemed to be leaning towards that conclusion as well. Tsuna and Reborn seemed to be nodding in agreement as well and Haru's breath expelled in a frustrated sound.

"What is it Haru?" Reborn asked.

"The stupid woman doesn't agree with me," Gokudera snapped.

Things had been a bit strained over the past twenty-four hours and Haru knew it was because Gokudera was chomping at the bit to kick someone's ass, anyone's ass it seemed at this point. She'd given up trying to talk sense into him about 2 AM the previous night and had stomped up to her own room and slammed the door.

"What do you think then, Haru?" Reborn asked.

"We haven't seen or heard anything about the Trabuchet since their headquarters was leveled," Haru said, "and I hate to say this, but they are not Japanese."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Gokudera demanded. "The Vongola are an Italian Famiglia. We're not Japanese either!"

Haru's finger tapped on the paper in front of her. "Most foreigners wouldn't be able to do this. The actual handwriting itself is elegant with the added flourishes of someone who has practiced Japanese Calligraphy for a long time. And while yes, the Trabuchet may have someone that practiced amongst their people—it's not really their style. Think about it!"

"I am thinking about it," Gokudera retorted, "and there isn't anyone else who would do something like this!"

"There isn't?" Haru asked coolly. "Tell me how many times we knew a new enemy before they attacked. If it makes you feel better, please do explore the avenue of the Trabuchet. I'm going to look elsewhere."

She collected her things and put them in her bag with precise movements. She really didn't have time for something like this to come up now—she had exams to study for, but she couldn't let something happen to the Vongola Boss.

"Haru, calm down," Tsuna said. "There's something else about the letter that's bothering you, isn't there?"

Haru jumped at Tsuna's observation and then nodded. "The way it's written sounds more like a challenge to me than an actual threat towards Kudaime," she said.

"What about that Familia we met yesterday?" Yamamoto suggested.

"The Hermosillo Familia?" Haru repeated and settled back down in her chair as she thought for a moment. "No, trying to take the Vongola Boss isn't a risk that Victoria Hermosillo or her boss would take at this point in time. In the future I wouldn't necessarily put it past them, but right now…they don't have the power to counter the Vongola assault. The paper, the flourishes on the writing, and the language it's written in has an almost 'Japanese aristocrat' feel to it. One of the other Japanese families may be behind it."

"Then start there, Haru," Tsuna said. "Yamamoto, go with Haru as backup. Gokudera, you and I will investigate the possibility of the Trabuchet. Oniisan, please keep Kyoko safe until we figure out what's going on."

The white-haired boxer looked like he was about to object, but then he nodded sharply. "I always do," he said.

Tsuna nodded and glanced around the table. "Let's get this over with," he said.

They exited the shop after thanking Yamamoto's father.

"Baseball idiot."

Haru and Yamamoto paused at Gokudera's growl and Yamamoto turned to look at the silver-haired demolitionist.

"If anything happens to her, I'll kill you," Gokudera promised.

Yamamoto chuckled. "Don't worry," he said. "She's a teammate, I'll be there."

"You better be."

Gokudera's glare turned to her. "Don't do anything stupid, Haru," he said.

Haru puffed her cheeks out in irritation for a moment and then took a deep breath. "The same applies to you," she retorted. "I'll text if I find anything."

"Same," Gokudera said.

They nodded and parted ways, Haru automatically heading for the Underground.

"He's going to have to be blindfolded if you plan to use that entrance."

Akai's voice startled Haru and her eyes flew to her dark-haired friend who emerged from the crowd. It took Haru a moment to recognize her as she was dressed in a short, red plaid skirt, a ripped up band shirt that fell off her shoulder, and a pair of heavy black boots that jingled when she walked. "I thought you were busy," Haru said. "You said you'd be gone most of summer vacation to take care of the stuff you needed to so you could concentrate on school."

"I got an early reprieve," Akai said. "Madame Cho sent Sakura to take over what I was doing and gave me orders to return to Namimori immediately. Has something new happened?"

"Kudaime will be visiting the week of the thirty-first," Haru said.

"Well, we knew he was going to come at some point," Akai said. "It's not really a reason to summon me back…did negotiations with the Hermosillo Familia not go well?"

"Those are still in process," Haru said. "We'll be meeting again in a week or so."

"But no immediate threats?" Akai inquired.

Haru shook her head. "She asked about you, wondering why you weren't accompanying me."

"It's Vongola business. I'm not Vongola, my little sister just is," Akai stated.

"That's what I told her," Haru replied.

"Then why…" Akai trailed off.

"Yesterday, this was nailed to the door when Gokudera and I got back to my house," Haru said, extracting the letter and handing it over.

"Blindfolded?" Yamamoto questioned finally able to get in a word edgewise.

Haru glanced at him and then back to Akai.

"Unless Madame Cho approves otherwise, everyone gets blindfolded," Akai stated. "Don't worry; you're with Haru and me. Once we get to our main destination, the blindfold will be removed. There's not a whole lot of chance that someone is going to attack during the first part of the trek. Now that I think about it, you may want to start figuring out how to get to your own entrance into the Underground, Haru. The Vongola have a machine shop down there and they can probably give you their entrance. We've just been taking our entrance because that's usually where you're going. The Vongola's presence isn't as strong Underground, they're more everywhere else."

Haru looked up at Yamamoto. "I'm sorry I have to go by the rules," she said.

"It's no problem," Yamamoto said.

They neared the entrance and Akai asked Yamamoto to lean down a bit so she could put the blindfold in place and he obliged. They made their way to the entrance and Haru triggered the mechanism and the three ducked inside, closing it right afterwards. Akai pulled one of the flashlights out of the supply cabinet immediately to their right as they entered and they made their way through the narrow stairwell, Haru following Yamamoto. As soon as they were out of the passage, Akai reached up and pulled the blindfold away.

Yamamoto's eyes ran over the noisy concourse and he glanced down at Haru. "This is the Underground?" he asked.

She nodded. "I've never done anything down here except go to the shop," she said. "Dani said that you could buy anything and everything down here you could imagine if you had the money and knew where to look. There's a lot of Families that have places down here and there's kind of a loose agreement down here that you don't assault another Family though if there's a war between the Families it goes out the window and you have to hope that you can stay out of whatever disagreement happens to be cropping up."

"This way," Akai said, catching their attention. "If you want to visit the machinist's shop after we're done here, it's that way about a block."

Yamamoto shifted his bat bag on his shoulder and they followed Akai to the Broken Butterfly. The bell rang and Kenta glanced up from the manga he was reading at the counter. "You're back early, Akai," he noted.

"I got an early summons," Akai said. "Is Madame Cho in?"

At Kenta's nod, Akai vanished into the 'Employees Only' entrance behind the counter leaving Haru and Yamamoto to wait.

Kenta's eyes went to the dark-haired man behind Haru. "You're not Gokudera," he noted.

"This is Yamamoto Takeshi," Haru introduced him.

"Nice to meet you," Yamamoto said.

"Does Madame Cho know you're bringing a stranger to the shop?" Kenta frowned.

"We followed all the procedures," Haru stated. "He didn't see the entrance."

"It seems like we're getting way too entwined with the Vongola," Kenta frowned, "could be bad for business."

"What do you mean?" Haru asked.

"Ah…nothing."

Kenta suddenly became very busy with something else and Haru scowled. "Kenta…" she began.

"It's nothing, Miura-san," Kenta said. "Please wait until my sister gets back with word from Madame Cho. We got some new stuff in, if you want to look. If you see anything you want to buy let me know."

Haru sighed, she wasn't going to get anything else out of him and she obligingly moved over to the new displays. Yamamoto wandered the shop looking around at the various items. "It's not stuff you'd normally think about when you think about the Mafia is it?" he noted quietly, coming up behind Haru.

"It depends on your style of fighting," Haru said and pointed out a few items. "A lot of the shop's patrons tend towards ninjutsu and various forms affiliated with it. That's a lot of what I've learned over the past year or so, but I have a long way to go still."

Yamamoto was quiet for a long time and Haru looked at him curiously. "Is there something on your mind, Yamamoto?"

"Why did you really decide to get into this?" he asked. "It's caused a lot of problems hasn't it?"

"I want to revise the future," Haru said. "I already said something like that a while ago. I will do anything within my power to make sure that future doesn't come to pass. To try and make sure that no one loses someone that's dear to them."

Yamamoto's face was still at her words and Haru figured he was thinking about his dad whom had been killed in the future when the Millefiore Famiglia was hunting the Vongola. She touched his arm lightly summoning him from the dark memory. "We're going to make sure that doesn't happen," she said firmly.

Before Yamamoto could respond, Akai emerged into the shop and called them over. "Madame Cho is in the conference room with Nakayama. Come along."

The two Vongola followed Akai through the door and to the conference room. Nervousness clawed at her stomach, she wasn't sure if Madame Cho was really okay with her bringing another member of her Famiglia down here. Gokudera had been grudgingly accepted, but Kenta's observation bothered her and she clenched a hand in the folds of her skirt. What had he meant by 'it could be bad for business'?

Akai opened the door and Haru entered first followed by Yamamoto. "I apologize for the intrusion, Madame Cho," Haru said.

The thirteenth Boss of the Hanatachi Clan glanced up from the paper on her desk and shook her head. "You may be Vongola, but you're still Clan," she said, "though one would request you let us know more than two minutes in advance if you're bringing a stranger here."

"I'm Gokudera's pinch hitter," Yamamoto said. "Tsuna needed him for something else so he sent me with Haru."

Madame Cho waved off the teenager's explanation. "It's fine, the warning was just for future reference. Please come take a seat. Nakayama-kun has already come up with some possibilities for this new threat."

Haru's eyes shot to the dark-haired Japanese boy who gave her a charming smile. "Your safety is my highest priority, Lady Haru," Yukihiro Nakayama teased, bowing in her direction.

Haru was momentarily startled by the comment—Nakayama didn't usually say such things to her. "You're in good company today, Miura-san," Yukihiro continued. "We cased the area around your house and no one apparently saw anything the day that letter arrived."

"Our house has a high wall and if the person showed up around midmorning most of the neighbors are at work and Amihara-san's favorite drama is on so she's not watching out the window like usual," Haru said.

Akai had kept the letter after Haru presented it to her and it was sitting in the middle of the table between Madame Cho and Nakayama. "This writing isn't something any of the barbarians could come up with," Nakayama said. "I assume you've already reached that conclusion, Miura-san?"

Haru nodded. "We actually came to see if there were any of the Japanese Clans in the area who used similar methods," she said. "The way it's worded is also bothering me?"

"Because of the formality?" Yukihiro asked.

She shook her head. "No. The actual way it's phrased," she replied. "It doesn't really sound like whoever it is wants to actually threaten the Kudaime. '_You will find all the clues that you need if you look correctly. I hope to see you before then._' It sounds more like a challenge…directed at me…"

"Do you know of anyone who would challenge you like that?" Madame Cho inquired.

Haru shook her head. "It seems almost like something Dani would have directed at me while she was my teacher, but she's still in Vendicare as far as I know…" she said.

"She is," Madame Cho confirmed. "We checked on Shirokaia first—if they're offered enough money the Vindice will let anyone leave Vendicare as evidenced by Mukuro Rokudo's presence in the future you saw."

"Are there any Japanese Clans with an aristocratic background that may have a stake in things going on in Namimori recently?" Haru asked.

"There's a few," Yukihiro said. "The Mizuki Clan in Sapporo, the Ishida Clan in Kyoto, and the Minamoto Clan in Tokyo itself come to mind first. Though I am not sure what any of them would accomplish by challenging you. You're just a small fish in a much larger sea…"

"If one of them feels she presents a future threat, it makes more sense to come after her now," Akai noted, "but why threaten Kudaime? The Judaime is already in town and is much easier to get to…"

"Who knows?" Madame Cho said. "That's something Miura-san will have to figure out for herself. Check in with Kenta on your way out, he'll have some information on all the Clans Nakayama-kun has pinpointed. You may want to start your search there…"

Haru knew a dismissal when she heard it and collected the note and bowed to the Clan Lead and the young intelligence officer. "Thank you for your assistance," she said.

They exited the conference room and Haru churned the events over in her mind. They stopped in the main shop and Kenta presented a thumbdrive to Haru. "I was told to give this to you on your way out," he said.

"Thank you, Kenta," she smiled.

"Next time you come in alone I have something to show you," Kenta added, half-glaring at Yamamoto.

"Kenta…" Haru began.

"It's something only members of the Hanatachi can see for now," he said.

"She's a Vongola," Akai reminded her brother.

"She was Hanatachi first," Kenta said. "See you later."

Haru exited the shop.

"The Vongola Machine Shop is this way," Akai said, gesturing. "Want me to show you the way?"

"It couldn't hurt," Yamamoto said cheerfully. "We may need this place at some point."

"Madame Cho is in on it," Haru announced quietly as they turned down another street, "and maybe Nakayama-san too."

"What?" Akai exclaimed. "Madame Cho wouldn't threaten the Kudaime!"

Haru looked up at her friend. "No, she wouldn't, but she knows who's behind it and that it isn't an actual threat."

"So it's a challenge?" Yamamoto asked.

Haru nodded slowly. "Someone in one of those clans that Nakayama-san listed is challenging me," she said. "He came up with those names far too quickly."

"Interesting…" Yamamoto murmured. "So what are you going to do, Haru?"

"Part of the puzzle is in this drive," Haru said. "I should try and talk Father into getting me my own laptop sooner…assuming I even make it into Takanamori at this point…I don't have time for this!"

"You have a week before those classes we're taking start up," Akai said. "Maybe if we work at it, we can have the problem solved by then."

"_We're_ taking?" Haru repeated.

"Well, I'm back in town anyway, might as well maintain appearances," Akai grinned. "I am, after all, a junior high student struggling to get into a high end high school to further my education… Ah! Here we are."

They stopped outside of a shop that had the Vongola crest hidden in its logo and Yamamoto opened the door to let the girls precede him. Akai shook her head and stepped back. "I'm going to go to Haru's house and shake the bushes a bit more and see if anything falls out."

"We already went over everything yesterday and this morning before we met up with the others at Take Sushi," Haru frowned.

Akai grinned. "I've probably shaken more bushes than you so I might find something else and fresh eyes never hurt. Besides, this is Vongola Territory and I'm not invited, I'd rather not cause problems."

"But—" Haru began.

Akai shook her head again and left the Rain Guardian and Haru to their own devices. Haru sighed and then turned to Yamamoto. "I guess it's just us from here," she said.

"I'll keep you safe, I promised," Yamamoto smiled and they entered the shop.

The bell rang and a boy with blond hair dressed in an olive green coverall emerged from the back, a stick protruding from his mouth. "Spanner?" Yamamoto gaped.

"Yo," the boy mechanic said. "I didn't know you'd be down here today. Did you need something? The boss is in Italy right now so I'm minding the shop."

"We'd heard there was a Vongola enclave down here, but hadn't actually gotten around to finding it," Haru said.

"Ah, then welcome," Spanner said. "So you didn't need anything today?"

He sounded almost disappointed and Haru thought for a moment. "I don't suppose you have a cheap laptop do you?" she asked. "One I can use for Vongola business so I don't have to run a security risk by using my Father's computer anymore?"

"Depends on what you mean by cheap," Spanner replied. "I'm surprised you don't have a laptop already all things considered…"

"My father promised me one when I start high school in the spring, my old one ate itself a while ago," Haru said.

"Ate itself?" Spanner repeated, his green eyes lighting up. "Wanna bring it in and I'll see if I can do anything with it? We don't have any good laptops in stock currently, but the boss can't get angry if I use stuff from the recycling pile to fix yours…"

Haru looked considering and then nodded. "Sure, why not? How do we get down here?"

"Oh, you don't know?" Spanner asked. "How did you get down here then?"

"Umm…" Haru hesitated.

"Doesn't matter how you got down here. Here I'll show you how to get back up though I'm surprised Yamamoto doesn't already know…" Spanner said.

"Huh?" Yamamoto blinked.

"It's in the yard of the dojo behind your dad's shop you know," Spanner said patiently. "How come you haven't found it yet?"

"It's near the dojo?" Yamamoto gaped.

"Well, yes, here, I'll show you…" Spanner said. "Let me lock the shop."


	5. Ch 4: The Lotus Clip

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Hi there! Here's chapter four. I hope you enjoy it.

Next update will be somewhere around 12/25/14 (though it may be uploaded the day before or the day after due to the holiday).

Thank you for reading (and reviewing if you get a chance)!

Take care!

~ Yuki

* * *

**Target 04-03: The Lotus Clip**

Akai was sitting on Haru's doorstep when the brunette finally made her way home. She'd parted ways with Yamamoto at the dojo after emerging from the Underground and he'd headed to practice while she headed straight home. "Didn't take you that long to get here," Akai noted, standing up and brushing off her plaid skirt.

"The Vongola entrance was in some place I didn't expect," Haru said, "and a lot closer than I thought it would be. Any luck?"

"You might say that," Akai said and held out a paper-wrapped bundle. "Found that sticking in one of the bushes against the wall—kind of like it fell out of the intruder's hair or something when they climbed the wall."

"Along the wall?" Haru repeated.

"Let me guess, you didn't think to look there?" Akai asked.

Haru felt her cheeks flush and she nodded shame-facedly.

"Everywhere Haru. Remember to look _everywhere_ just like you look at everything when you're chasing down a lead," Akai frowned.

"I'll remember," Haru said. "I've got to go grab the corpse of my old laptop. Spanner said that he might be able to do something with it so I can use it for Famiglia business instead of hoping my password lock holds on Dad's computer."

"Now?" Akai blinked. "Where's your escort?"

"Yamamoto had baseball practice for the junior league and Gokudera is with Judaime chasing after leads on the Trabuchet," Haru replied.

"The Trabuchet? Why?" Akai frowned.

"Because Gokudera is convinced that it's the Trabuchet that left the note," Haru said, "and wouldn't listen to me when I suggested otherwise though at least the others were at least willing to consider the possibility."

"Let's have lunch first before we head out," Akai said. "I'm starving. I haven't had anything since breakfast on the plane this morning."

"Oh jeez," Haru said. "We can grab a sandwich. I'll look at what you found while we're eating. I can kill two birds with one stone if we find something useful on it."

Haru unlocked the door and led the way in, setting her bag down on the table next to the door and taking off her shoes and slipping her feet into slippers. She made a bee line for the kitchen and pulled out the various sandwich makings and began to put together sandwiches for herself and Akai after realizing that she hadn't eaten anything since the meeting.

She and Akai took the sandwiches up to her room and settled at the table they usually studied at and Haru opened the item and stared at it. "Wow, it's beautiful," she murmured and then shook her head hard, she didn't have time to admire how pretty the clip was, the person who dropped it may be threatening Vongola Nono.

"Yeah, workmanship like that doesn't come cheap," Akai agreed. "This is something like I'd wear to a formal gathering in full kimono."

"It doesn't look like anything I see usually, it must be a special order," Haru said and turned the hair clip over in her hand, the edges of the lotus petals digging into her fingers as she looked it over.

Her eyes focused on a mark under the part that clipped into the hair and she frowned. "Akai, do you think you could recreate this mark so we could go ask someone at one of the shops in town that sells stuff like this."

Akai took the clip from her and looked it over. "Probably at least a fair facsimile of it anyway," she said. "Why don't we just bring the clip in though, it'll be easier?"

"And tip anyone who may be watching off that we found this," Haru said. "I'm going to treat this like someone really is threatening and I wouldn't just haul something like this around town if it put anyone in danger."

"Good point," Akai agreed and got up and moved to one of Haru's shelves and pulled out some scrap paper and a pencil.

She sat down and sketched the symbol out and handed it over to Haru for approval and the younger girl nodded. "Looks good, thank you Akai," she said.

They finished their meal and left the house a bit over an hour later, Haru hauling her old laptop in its worn case with her, she'd arranged to meet Spanner at one of the ramen stands near the Underground for the exchange. The blond boy was eating what looked to be his second bowl of ramen when they came up and nodded at Akai guardedly. "This is the laptop?" he asked as Haru handed the case over.

"Yes, please, and thank you," Haru said.

"Don't thank me yet. I have to see if I can do anything with it first," Spanner said.

"I'm sure you can," Haru beamed at him and Spanner gave her a bland look before turning his attention back to his ramen bowl.

The two girls headed off after Haru gave Spanner her email address so he could let her know what the prognosis on the laptop was when he got to it. Haru led the way to the swankier shops in Namimori that she only came to every once in a while and she found the shop that she was looking for. "Here we go, if anyone is going to know the maker's mark it's going to be Tomo-san."

They entered the shop and were immediately greeted by the young woman organizing one of the displays. "Good afternoon, Mara-san," Haru greeted her. "Is Tomo-san in today?"

"Yes, but she's in the middle of something right now. Is it something that I can help you with?" the woman queried.

"Maybe," Haru smiled. "I just saw a piece that I really liked in a resale shop, but it was already sold. The owner allowed me to copy the maker's mark since he didn't recognize it. It's not something Tomo-san usually makes but I was wondering if she'd know it,"

"May I see it?" Mara asked.

"Yes, please," Haru said. "I don't want to take up more of Tomo-san's time than I need to."

Mara took the paper from her and she frowned. "I think I recognize it, give me a sec," she said and headed for the counter.

Mara pulled out a book and opened it. She flipped through pages and stopped and then waved Haru and Akai over. "Is this the mark?" she asked, pointing.

"Yes, it is," Haru said.

"You aim high Miura-san," Mara laughed. "The person who holds that mark has exclusive clientele. She has excellent materials and workmanship and her usual prices reflect that. Would you like the address?"

"Yes, please," Haru said.

Mara grabbed some paper and wrote down the address and phone number as well as the name. "Here you go, Miura-san," she said. "Good luck getting her to even consider your commission."

Haru chuckled and bowed. "Thank you, Mara-san," she said. "I'll be back in a few weeks to talk to you about father's birthday present."

Mara smiled. "If you're getting something from her, you probably won't have the money for your father's gift," she laughed.

"Father comes first," Haru said, "but if I talk to her at least I'll find out how much I need to save if she'll even take it."

"True enough," Mara smiled and the bell rang announcing another customer. "Pardon me, Haru. Good morning, sir. How can I help you?"

Haru folded the paper. "Thank you."

They departed the shop and Haru unfolded it to look at the address when they stopped by a café for a drink. "Kyoto," Haru said and handed the paper over to Akai.

Akai looked it over. "I'll see what I can get from my sources there," she said.

"Won't I have to go through Madame Cho for that?" Haru said.

Shaking her head, Akai pulled out her phone. "I'm utilizing the sources for my own interest which just happens to align with yours."

Haru kept quiet while Akai spoke on the phone, leading the way back to her house. Gokudera was leaning against the wall next to the entrance when they arrived and straightened immediately as they came into sight. "How was hunting?" Haru asked.

"Turned out exactly like you said it would," Gokudera grumbled. "Not a peep about anything regarding the Trabuchet except every known agent has pulled out of Namimori."

"I won't say I told you so," Haru said and opened the gate. "Will you stay for dinner, Akai?"

Akai nodded and went back to her conversation and the three entered Haru's yard and went to the door. Haru went to open it and it swung open on its own, Akai's phone snapped shut and Haru reached for her kanzashi while Gokudera activated the Sistema CAI. "Don't destroy anything you don't have to," Haru murmured to Gokudera.

He gave her a dark look. "I won't," he said.

"Gokudera and I will go in first," Akai said, moving in front of Haru. "We've more experience in these matters than you."

Haru would have protested but the look from both of them silenced her and she nodded in acquiescence. They entered the house and Haru followed when they called an all clear and glanced around herself and found everything oddly intact. There was a sound behind her and she began to turn and found herself grabbed from behind.

"Pardon the intrusion, Miura-san," a voice Haru couldn't identify as male or female murmured and she felt the prick of a needle and everything went dark.


	6. Ch 5: Scarlet Smile

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Blessed Yule, Happy Kwanzah, Happy Hannakah-whatever you celebrate this season (and if you don't celebrate Happy Thursday ^_^). Here's chapter five.

Please read and enjoy ^_^

Next update will be around January 8th ^_^

~ Yuki

* * *

**Target 05-03: Scarlet Smile**

"Ah, you're awake. I told Maiko to only administer about half the dosage in the syringe."

Haru blinked and immediately tried moving and found her hands bound behind the wooden back of the chair she was sitting in. She clenched her hands together and lifted her head slowly and found herself confronted by a shadowed figure. The light coming in was directed in such a way that the only thing she could see of her captor was shimmering scarlet lips. There was a soft rustle of fabric that sounded like one of Madame Cho's full kimono and Haru cocked her head and flinched at the resulting pain.

"What do you want?" Haru managed, her voice was hoarse and her throat felt raw.

"Just to satisfy some idle curiosity," the woman said silkily.

She moved forward into the light and Haru found her head pushed down before she could actually see what the woman looked like. "You don't have permission to look at the Lady."

The voice that spoke was the same as the one she'd heard before the injection and she frowned. "Lady…no, Emri wouldn't wear a kimono like that…" Haru mumbled to herself.

"You are correct," the woman said. "What is your exact position in the Vongola Famiglia, Miura Haru-san?"

Haru's eyes narrowed and she pressed her lips tightly together.

The silence went on for what felt like forever and it was all Haru could do not to just start babbling to fill it. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and focused on that bit of pain and the metallic taste that filled her mouth.

There was another swishing of cloth and a finger found her chin and forced Haru's eyes up, but she couldn't make the woman out in the brightness of the overhead light. "Do you think your silence hides anything from me, Miura Haru?" the woman asked.

A chain unraveled and the ring that Haru had been wearing when she was captured dangled in front of her swinging idly back and forth. Haru couldn't help but follow it with her eyes and felt herself falling into a lull and clenched her eyes shut and fisted her hands hard enough for her nails to dig into the fleshy part of her palm, letting the pain kill the lassitude that was slipping over her.

"Stubborn child," the woman sighed. "How long do you think that's going to last? Every moment you don't answer my questions is another moment that slips away between you and the Vongola Nono's arrival in Japan."

Haru wanted to explode into a rant about how she would never tell the woman anything and how all she had to do was hold out until her friends figured out what happened and tracked her down. However, she felt as though she would lose something if she chose to speak at this particular moment and remained quiet. She opened her eyes and focused instead on the hand wielding the chain with the ring instead of the ring. The nails on the woman's hand were also crimson and Haru admired the manicure for a moment, trying to keep her thoughts away from her current situation.

"Well, I suppose that trick isn't going to work."

The ring swung upwards, landing neatly in the woman's palm and she closed her fingers over it. "I suppose we'll see how long that silence lasts when you are faced with hunger and thirst," she said. "Shall we go, Maiko?"

"As you wish, Mother."

Haru watched the woman depart. The person that followed the woman was dressed in loose clothing but had long hair, leading Haru to believe that they were female. After the two had exited the light above her went out plunging everything into darkness and she felt panic try to close in for a moment, but she took a deep breath and forced it out. After a moment she focused on her current situation.

She was in a chair, but she wasn't tied to it. Her hands were behind her back and it felt like plastic around her wrists. She twisted her wrists a bit and felt the teeth of the zip ties bite in and relaxed. Of all the things to restrain her…

Dani had run a similar simulation to this with her something close to this at least three different times. The first time Haru had panicked and been completely useless, but by the last time it was just something else she'd learned to do. On more than one occasion, she'd been forced to wear wristbands to conceal the damage from those who would notice and worry.

She forced herself to relax further and then began to carefully maneuver her hands. She worked slowly, gently working until she managed to free one of her thumbs from the restraint and then it was easy. There was a barely audible _clack_ as the zip tie hit the concrete floor and she rose from the chair. She rotated her wrists and hissed a bit as the resulting sting from one of them, she'd probably cut herself on the tie.

She went over what the room looked like with the light in her mind and knew that it wasn't a large room and that a table took up a large portion of it. Her eyes landed on the tiny strip of light that denoted the door and she moved towards it, her bare feet making no noise on the ground. Her hair brushed over her shoulders and she tucked it behind her ear with a muttered curse. The elastic band wouldn't have really been a very good weapon; they could have at least left that. She reached for the hem of her shirt and yanked sharply, listening to the ripping fabric as the strip of cloth separated from the rest of the shirt. She tied the scrap into her hair tightly hoping it would keep her hair out of her face for the time being and then ventured to the door.

She scowled a bit as she ran her fingers over it, the door wasn't very sturdy. She pressed her ear to the wood and realized that it was also very thin and she could hear a muttered conversation outside. She pulled back away from the door to figure out her next plan. Theoretically there couldn't be more than one or two men guarding the door. If she made enough noise with the table one of them would likely come in to investigate, but that would likely result in the light being flipped on leaving her in a moment of blindness and that would be long enough for them to get her again.

Haru moved and picked up the chair she'd been sitting in and moved towards the door and in the last few steps dragged the chair over the floor making a very loud noise. She clenched her eyes shut as the door was opened and slammed the chair at the first man who came through and then tried to scramble past him while he was still dazed from the hit. There wasn't a second man waiting outside and Haru just took off running and hoped that she didn't run into anyone before her eyes adjusted to the light.

When her vision cleared she spotted a cleaning closet and ducked in even as she heard booted feet hitting the floor. It wouldn't take long for them to figure out where she'd gone, especially if the guard hadn't been knocked unconscious by the chair—she hadn't stayed long enough to figure it out. She found the handle of a mop and a quick check found that it was one of the ones that she could easily detach the mophead from and turn it into a staff of sorts, which she did. She grabbed a tub of floorwax and loosened the cap as she listened to people run by. After the immediate rush, she listened for a moment more and then burst out of the cleaning closet and threw the bucket on the ground and took off with her makeshift weapon.

The first man she ran into was shocked just long enough for her to get in a couple good strikes and run again.

Haru turned into another corridor and found it empty, but she knew it likely wouldn't be empty for long. Places like these always had security cameras, but she needed to find some place where she could catch her breath and formulate a plan. She had no way of contacting anyone currently and she didn't want to have to requisition another ring from the Vongola, assuming they'd let a failure like her have one again anyway…

She dashed away frustrated tears and took another deep breath to compose herself and moved down the hall a little slower since she couldn't hear any pursuit currently. She hurried down the corridor and went to one of the windows and realized that she was a few floors up in some kind of large building. She found the emergency stairwell and slipped through the door and started to make her way down the stairs. If it came out in an underground garage it would be easier to find concealment.

She finally reached the bottom of the stairs and burst through the door, only to come face to face with the barrel of a gun.

"Nice try, Miura-san."

It was the same voice and viewing the person from the front, they were definitely female. The overshirt she wore was loose, but it was open in the front revealing a halter top over a pair of loose khaki cargo pants. Haru glared at her and before she could think, she kicked out and her foot came into contact with the girl's wrist and the gun went flying, skittering across the concrete.

"You're no match for me, girl," the other smirked. "I've had a lot more practice."

Haru didn't answer just sprang at her, trying to get in a few strikes before the other could get the better of her, but the tables were quickly turned and Haru found herself slammed into the ground her arm twisted painfully behind her.

"Enough Maiko."

It was the voice of the woman who'd been interrogating her.

The pain eased up and she was forced to her feet and felt something dig into her back. She met the gaze of the woman full on and then the elegant woman began to clap.

"Impressive Miura Haru-san," the woman smirked. "Let her go, Maiko."

"But—"

"Maybe next time you'll learn to dodge better," the older woman said.

"Who are you?" Haru demanded.

"Someone who has a great interest in gauging the abilities of Nadeshiko's daughter," the woman said. "I have to say though it was rather unrefined, you actually were pretty impressive. Obviously your training isn't done."

"And you're going to see to it that it's never done?" Haru asked.

The woman's eyes widened and she began to laugh. "Hardly," she said. "In fact, I'd really like to refine that talent of yours Miura Haru-san. It's not often I find such a rough diamond that can be polished into so many facets."

"They're going to come for me you know," Haru said.

"That fox girl and Hurricane Bomb Hayato?" the woman repeated and then laughed. "No they won't. By now Sawada Iemitsu-san has intercepted them and informed them that I have no intention of harming you. And they'll have orders from Reborn to leave it well enough."

"And I'm supposed to trust you?" Haru asked skeptically.

"No, darling. If you trusted me right off you'd be going against every single lesson you learned from Shirokaia wouldn't you?" she asked. "You can call me Lady Tomi and for the next two weeks, you're going to be here in my facility learning as much as I can cram into that head of yours."

"But…I have classes and…" Haru said faintly.

"In the end I think this is going to be much more useful than spending two weeks in a remedial class you really don't need," 'Lady Tomi' said. "This is not an option, Miura-san. You're going to need what I can teach you a lot more than you're going to need to know how to solve the calculus equation. Besides, it's your Kudaime's orders…"

As the words left her mouth, the kimono-clad woman produced a letter and handed it to her and Haru nearly dropped it as the orange of the Sky Flames burst from the Vongola Seal. She opened it and written in Italian (with a Japanese translation beneath it signed by Reborn) were orders that she was to listen to her new tutor and walk away ten times stronger than when she went in.


	7. Ch 6: A Familiar Flower

**Author's Note: **Happy New Year! I hope that 2015 is an amazing year for all of you ^_^

Here's chapter six, though a bit later in the day than I normally put it up (had a bunch of errands to run today).

Next update will be around 01/22/15.

Take care!

~ Yuki

* * *

**Target 06-03: Familiar Flower**

Gokudera's fist slammed into the wall of his apartment and he glared at the cell phone on the table that wasn't ringing. It had been just over two weeks since Haru had been taken right under his nose and there wasn't a fucking thing he could do to rescue her. He'd gone after the black car that pulled away from Haru's house with Haru's friend from the Hanatachi Clan, but they hadn't even managed to get a license plate before the car vanished. Akai had informed him Haru had come across a lead that would take them to Kyoto and said that if they couldn't find anything around Namimori that'd be the next place to go.

They'd torn Namimori apart and found nothing to lead them to where Haru was taken. Putting their money together, they had enough to purchase tickets to Kyoto, but they'd been greeted at the platform by Iemitsu Sawada and Reborn. The head of CEDEF had informed them that Haru was being taken to a tutor and that they would find an unpleasant surprise waiting if they tried to pursue her. Iemitsu had also said that she would be back in about two weeks.

The two weeks had been up for three days.

Haru had managed to send him a text to inform him she was fine and that she'd be back soon, but that failed to settle the roiling worry in his stomach that something happened to her. Chrome had returned from her mission a week ago and Gokudera moved most of his things back to his apartment since his primary reasons for being there were no longer a factor. Haru wasn't there for him to protect and, with Chrome there, he no longer needed to housesit at the Miuras.

He'd managed to force himself through the study sessions with Judaime and the baseball idiot, but Yamamoto seemed to be distracted lately as well. Gokudera still failed at trying to read what was behind the baseball idiot's easy going expression.

Gokudera snarled another curse and snatched his phone and his jacket along with his usual arsenal. He slammed out of his apartment and came up short at the sight of Akai leaning against the railing next to the stairs.

"Ah, you're ready," she said and shifted her plaid backpack on her back. "I've already got the tickets to Kyoto."

"How did you know I was leaving?" Gokudera scowled.

"I've actually been keeping an eye on your apartment for the last two days, you held out longer than I figured you would," Akai said. "Someone else was moving before you were."

"Who—" Gokudera began.

"Over here, Akai."

Gokudera's head snapped over to where Yamamoto was leaning against a taxi. "What the hell are you doing here?" Gokudera demanded.

"I'm going to find Haru," Yamamoto said. "The Hermosillo Familia isn't going to be buying our excuses for too much longer. I can only juggle them for so long."

"Why the hell are you juggling the Hermosillo?" Gokudera demanded.

"Because I was the one at the meeting with Haru the first time," Yamamoto said. "Get in. The train leaves soon."

The three teenagers piled into the taxi and Akai gave instructions to the taxi driver and they pulled away.

"Do you think they'll be there again?" Gokudera asked.

"I guess we'll see when we get there," Akai said. "I don't think they'll intercept us this time though."

Gokudera wished he could light up a cigarette as he found himself staring out the driver's side back seat. They arrived at the station and there was no one on the platform this time except travelers. The three exited the taxi and Akai dug into her backpack and pulled out their tickets while Yamamoto paid the fare. "Here," she said. "I couldn't get us seats together, but I'm sure you two can handle yourself for the trip."

Their train wasn't departing for a bit longer and Gokudera took the opportunity to light up his cigarette and drew a deep drag from it, checking his cell phone again to see if there was any word. He'd tried to call Haru a few times, but the calls had immediately gone to voice mail and she hadn't called back. He sent a text to Tsuna informing him that they were going to Kyoto to find Haru just before they boarded the train.

They got off the train in Kyoto, Akai had an address she'd acquired in Namimori and they were headed for a jewelers' shop when their path was blocked by a woman in a loose jacket and khaki pants, she held a gun on them. "You didn't ask permission to come into Ishida Clan territory, Vongola brats," she stated flatly. "I would have thought better of Cho's whelp as well…"

Akai smirked and produced a bit of red silk cloth embroidered with gold Nadeshiko. "I assure you, I have permission," Akai said, "and permission to bring them along."

The girl snatched the cloth and spat on the ground at Akai's feet.

"Take them," she ordered glancing at the men behind her. "If you resist you're going to endanger far too many civilians and I'm afraid your precious Tenth won't be very happy about it. Don't harm Akai; Lady Tomi will be unhappy if she really did get permission."

"The Scarlet Witch?" Gokudera gasped.

"Shut up Vongola cur," the woman ordered.

"She's going to be unhappy to know that you manhandled the Tenth Vongola Storm and Rain Guardians when my permission extended to them," Akai noted, "but suit yourself. I know you always do, Maiko."

Maiko whirled away and they found themselves guided into a large black car and blindfolded.

"What the hell is going on, Akai?" Gokudera demanded.

"Calm down Gokudera," the girl ordered. "You too, Yama—"

"I am calm," Yamamoto said. "Being blindfolded seems to be standard rules in this game."

"It's not a game," Gokudera snarled.

"Yes, it is," Yamamoto said. "Mafia politics is a game in its own way. I've been studying more since Haru's been gone."

"Don't bother. I'll be accompanying Haru from now on to any of those meetings," Gokudera snapped.

"Not until you get that temper of yours under control, Gokudera," Akai said. "Haru said that according to rumors in the future she saw, you were an outstanding right-hand man to Vongola Decimo, but right now I simply don't see it."

"Fuck off," Gokudera said flatly and fell silent—his worry for Haru intensifying with their reception.

Haru flinched as she sat up, her muscles protesting as she forced herself to shift so she could get out of bed. Her bare feet came in contact with the thick rug on her temporary quarters in the Ishida Compound and she stood up. With deliberate steps, she crossed the floor; barely paying attention when it gave way to wooden boards and stripped away the nightclothes she'd been given. Haru went to the dressing table and pulled out the makeup and settled down to apply it. After putting the make-up on, she worked her way into the heavy ceremonial kimono that Lady Tomi had pushed on her. She tried to avoid rubbing the material against the make-up, if she got anything on the kimono she would be hand-washing it after her lessons and wouldn't be allowed to sleep until it was dry.

For the last two weeks or so, this had been her life. She'd had etiquette and proper conduct drilled into her head and was punished when she messed up. She'd been taught to listen to everything being said because in between inane bits of small talk, Lady Tomi would insert very important information that would assist Haru in her lessons after she took the kimono off. In the afternoons, Haru would remove the kimono and dress in workout clothes and be forced through another grueling lesson where she would have to complete a 'mission' before she would be allowed to eat dinner. If she accomplished her mission in a satisfactory time, she would dress in evening attire and join Lady Tomi and Maiko for dinner and another lesson in etiquette. Afterwards, Lady Tomi would enlist her help in sorting through the various information her network gave her. Haru knew that the information that she saw was far from complete, Lady Tomi held her cards too close to her chest for that, but it opened a different world to her and she started to put the puzzle pieces together to firm up her own network.

She went to the room Lady Tomi designated for her briefing room for the day's assignments and knocked on the door. She was acknowledged and told to enter and found Lady Tomi sipping tea while going through some papers. Lady Tomi rose from the cushion she was sitting on and Haru noted that Maiko was missing from the morning's meeting which was unusual. "Good morning, Miura-san," Lady Tomi said. "Today, you will be serving some visitors. You will recognize them, but they are not to recognize you. They are well known to you and you to them, but they are to be left doubting whether or not it is really you. If you succeed, you will be allowed to return to Namimori tomorrow. If you do not succeed, well, let's just say a lot of your current plans will be derailed."

Haru inclined her head. "As you command," she said and bowed deeply.

"I have utmost faith you will not disappoint me, Haru," Lady Tomi smiled.

Haru backed out of the room, not lifting her eyes until she was over the threshold and the door was shut. She turned and saw Maiko smirking at her and shivered. She really did not like Maiko Ishida at all; the girl was utterly ruthless and as frightening in her own way as some of the others that Tsuna and the others had fought. "How may I help you?" Haru asked, forcing her voice to politeness.

"You'll follow me to the audience room," she said. "Our guests await."

Haru nodded and followed the dark-haired woman through the halls to the room where they usually had dinner on the nights she was able to join Lady Tomi and Maiko.

They stopped in the doorway and Haru's breath caught as she saw a familiar head of silver hair at the table. "If they figure out who you are without a doubt, you'll not be seeing them for a very long time Tomoe."

Haru immediately configured the personality into her head to match the name prompt and took a deep breath. She just had to make sure that Gokudera saw Tomoe Ishida not Haru Miura when she served him.

She ghosted into the room and barely kept her face calm when she realized who the other two guests were along with Gokudera. It didn't take much to see that Akai and Yamamoto were far more composed than Gokudera and it would be harder to fool them than it would Gokudera because of his state of mind.

"Good morning, I apologize for the lateness of the tea," she said.

She hadn't perfected Tomoe's voice—it was supposed to be slightly lower than her own with a touch of breathiness, but that was something that would take months to master.

Gokudera jumped at the sound of the voice and turned to regard the woman who entered sharply. Even though it wasn't quite right, he was pretty sure he knew that voice and the slight form swallowed by the layers of ceremonial kimono was familiar. "H—" he began and the tip of a pair of heavy boots was driven into his shin.

"What the hell was that for, Akai?" he demanded.

"I am Ishida Tomoe," the girl said. "Thank you for your patience."

Haru took a deep breath and settled down at the head of the table to begin preparing the tea. Her tutor had been somewhat surprised to find out Haru had already taken lessons to perform a Japanese Tea Ceremony and easily recalled it when Lady Tomi had put the implements in front of her. She kept her conversation to a minimum working to put the tea in front of each of them before settling down and then the test began in earnest.

It took every ounce of control she had to pretend that the three in front of her were strangers—inquiries about Tsuna and everyone else on the tip of her tongue, but she managed it. Finally, there was another knock on the door and Maiko entered. "My mother will be here shortly. Tomoe, you're done here."

Haru gritted her teeth against her immediate urge to rail at Maiko and rose gracefully, taking that moment to compose herself before she spoke again. "Thank you for coming," she said. "Please enjoy the rest of your visit."

She glided out of the room and met Lady Tomi's eyes. "You did well, Haru," she said. "They likely recognized you, but they did a good job of keeping it out of the conversation. You pass. Go take off your makeup and put your normal clothes on and join us for lunch—I'm sure your friends are anxious to see you."

The smile that Lady Tomi showed Haru this time softened up her entire expression and didn't seem the least bit threatening and Haru bowed deeply.

"Keep up your practices when you go to Namimori and don't forget to work your way through the things I've given you," Lady Tomi said. "You'll be coming back here for more lessons likely over Winter Break in between your final studies for school. There is still more I need to teach you, but even I can only cram so much into a bit over two weeks."

Haru nodded and hurried past Lady Tomi after getting permission and managed to make it all the way to her room without tripping over the hems of her kimono. She stripped out of the kimono and hung it up carefully then moved to the bathroom to wash away the makeup. She dressed in a denim skirt, tights, and a flowered yellow top provided by Lady Tomi and shoved her feet into comfortable brown boots.

After dressing, she bolted down the hall to the door and knocked on it politely; knowing Lady Tomi would likely get angry if she didn't follow proper etiquette even in normal clothing. "Enter."

Haru opened the door and watched as Gokudera immediately sprang up from the table. "Haru?" he said. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you? What—"

Haru pressed a finger to his lips and smiled. "I'm fine, Gokudera, and no I wasn't hurt any more than what the training required."

"Please join us, Miura-san," Lady Tomi said. "I'm sure you're anxious to hear all about what's going on in Namimori from more than the reports you've been helping me sort."


	8. Ch 7: Lull in the Storm

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Well, we're over halfway through this particular story. I hope that you're enjoying it.

The next few chapters are a little heavier on the word count than the previous, but still under 5K so far XD

Next update will be: February 5, 2015.

Thanks for reading (and reviewing if you get a chance).

* * *

**Target 07-03: Lull in the Storm**

Haru stepped off the train in Namimori the following day and was tackled in a hug and her eyes widened. "Chrome? When did you get back?"

"A little over a week ago, are you all right? When you weren't there when I got back from my mission with Mukuro-sama…" Chrome trailed off and stepped back, looking up at her anxiously.

"I'm better than fine," Haru smiled. "I'd just like to take a long hot bath and put on some of my own clothes rather than the stuff that Lady Tomi provided me."

"How did your training go, Haru?"

Haru's eyes went to Reborn and she realized that Tsuna and Ryohei were also there. "Judaime," she greeted him and dropped into a bow. "I apologize for any trouble I may have caused you…"

"Haru? What's gotten into you?" Tsuna frowned. "You've never…"

"Lady Tomi is pretty strict on proper protocol," Haru said. "It's become a habit. I'll have a proper report for you by the next meeting."

"While you were training we tried to track down information on the threat to the Ninth, but we didn't run across anything," Tsuna said. "Dad doesn't seem too worried, but…"

"There was never a threat against Kudaime to begin with," Haru said. "The letter was a test and means to get me to Lady Tomi. Kudaime, Madame Cho, and your dad were in on it the whole time…"

"That bastard…" Tsuna growled.

"Tsuna," Haru took several steps forward and gently smoothed a finger down the furrow between the future Vongola Decimo's eyebrows, "everything is fine. There were things I needed to be tutored on that they determined were best taught to me by Lady Tomi. I'm fine and I will be stronger for the Vongola because of it. Please, don't worry."

"Haru…" Tsuna said.

"I'm still a long way from being able to match everyone here," Haru said, "but I feel like I'm so much closer to where I need to be now."

"Haru…" Tsuna seemed to want to say something, but was interrupted by Gokudera clearing his throat.

"It's getting late, Judaime, we should probably go eat and talk about the rest of this later," he said.

"Pops has a feast ready for us when we get to the restaurant," Yamamoto smiled; he'd called his dad before they left Kyoto and made arrangements and passed on the information to the others.

"Kyoko should already be waiting there too with Lambo and I-Pin," Ryohei added. "We managed to convince our parents to let her come tonight."

"Okay," Haru smiled.

Chrome and Akai fell into step beside Haru as they made their way off the station platform with Haru dragging a new rolling suitcase with her.

"You're really okay?" Akai asked quietly.

Haru looked at her friend and nodded, she'd spent the entire trip artfully dodging most of the inquiries Akai had tossed at her. "I might even be able to give you a real match up next time we practice together," Haru said with a smile.

"No practicing until you've been looked over by Dr. Tanpopo," Gokudera stated, he'd dropped back to where the girls were after reassuring himself that Judaime wasn't angry at him for going after Haru.

Haru looked at the silver-haired demolitionist and frowned. "I'm fine, Gokudera," she said.

"And I'm paranoid, so humor me?" he said. "The Scarlet Witch already stole you from underneath my nose; I'd rather be assured by a professional you're unharmed."

His fingers twined with hers and Haru sighed. "All right, we'll go to Dr. Tanpopo tomorrow," she said.

Gokudera looked like he wanted to protest, but was silenced by the stubborn set of Haru's jaw and sighed. "Okay," he said.

"So how are things going with you, Chrome?" Haru asked, directing a glance at the dark-haired girl.

"Good," she said. "I did a lot of training too. You might not be able to see through the illusions now."

Haru smiled and the conversation settled into general topics as the group drew in closer together and chatted on the way to the sushi restaurant.

#

"That's more like it."

Gokudera glanced up from the book he was reading the following morning and saw the smile on Haru's face. "Better results on the practice test this time?" he asked.

She grinned and turned the paper over and displayed her ninety-eight. "Yes, as long as I get that on the actual exam this winter there is no doubt which school I will be attending in spring. I just needed to slow down a little bit and be careful. Are you, Judaime, and Yamamoto just going to try for Namimori?"

Gokudera shrugged. "I'll probably take tests for both, but I don't think Judaime is going to be able to qualify for the waiting list for Takanamori and I'm going wherever Judaime goes. I don't know what the baseball idiot is planning."

Haru nodded and Gokudera reached out and wrapped his hand around Haru's. "What do you think about Hanaki for lunch after we stop by the clinic?"

"Sounds good," Haru smiled.

They arrived at the clinic and Dr. Tanpopo chased Gokudera out of the examination room while she looked Haru over. Tanpopo emerged a while later and smiled at Gokudera. "She's fine, Gokudera, she's got some bruises that are still healing from her training, but there's nothing seriously damaged. I've cleared her for practice whenever she's ready."

Gokudera nodded and Haru came out of the examination room and gave him a smile. "Satisfied now?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, "but I'll be damned if I ever let you get taken like that again."

Haru smoothed her hand over his cheek, drawing him down for a soft kiss while the doctor turned away. "I won't let myself get taken like that again if I can help it," she assured him. "Now then, lunch?"

"Yeah," Gokudera said.

After lunch, they made their way towards Haru's house and her cell phone rang. After a murmured apology to Gokudera, Haru picked it up.

"This is Miura."

She stopped as the voice on the other end spoke. "Yes, I can meet you tomorrow evening," she said finally.

Gokudera watched Haru's face go still as the conversation continued in a vein he couldn't quite identify and it irritated him. Haru nodded at something that was said on the other end. "Of course," she said. "The same conference room as last time? Yes, we will be there. Good-bye."

She hung up and put the phone away before glancing up at Gokudera. "The Hermosillo Familia again?" he guessed.

Haru nodded. "I missed our last meeting due to training, so it got moved to tomorrow."

"As far as I know there's nothing going on tomorrow, I'll escort you," Gokudera said.

"No, you won't."

Reborn seemed to appear out of nowhere pacing alongside the wall next to them.

"What the hell do you mean I won't?" Gokudera snarled at the toddler.

Reborn jumped and knocked Gokudera to the sidewalk and stood on his chest. "That is one reason," he said. "You haven't learned to think before you act yet Gokudera. When two Families are negotiating things can get rough and you'll react first and put everyone in danger."

"Like hell I'd put Haru in danger," he growled.

"It wouldn't be intentional," Reborn said. "You regard everyone older than you as an enemy, Gokudera. You're quick to speak and quicker to pull out your weapon at the smallest hint of an insult, even more so if it's directed at one of those whom you regard as a friend or more."

Reborn jumped off of Gokudera and landed to the side as the silver-haired demolitionist got up, dusting himself off. "I can control myself," Gokudera said.

"Can you?" Reborn asked skeptically.

"Of course I can," Gokudera stated and Reborn shook his head.

"It's too much of a risk," Reborn said. "Things need to be settled in Namimori, we don't need a battle with another Family right now."

"So you'll send the baseball idiot with her again?" Gokudera demanded.

"Yes," Reborn said. "Yamamoto, Haru, and myself will be going to the negotiation table. You will stay with No-Good Tsuna and help him study so that he can get into high school."

Gokudera glared down at Reborn and the toddler watched him for a long moment before he walked away.

The low string of curses would have turned Haru's ears red if she hadn't been cohabitating with Gokudera for nearly two months now and heard just as bad or worse. She continued walking, figuring that Gokudera would eventually catch up to her when he realized she'd moved away. As expected, a few seconds later the sound of Gokudera's boots hitting the ground echoed and he caught up with her.

"Do you think he's right?" Gokudera asked.

Haru paused and turned to look at her boyfriend. "I think diplomacy is something you're going to have to work on a lot before you can be the second I heard about in the future," she finally said. "You'd had ten years to get to that point then and I'm sure you'll be fine in this timeline too."

He reached out to touch Haru's face gently. "I'll get there faster," he vowed. "Then I'll be able to be your second when it comes to these things."

Haru smiled and leaned into the touch before casting a quick glance around to make sure they were alone and stood on tiptoe to kiss him. Pulling back a moment later, she smiled. "But if you work that hard to be _my_ second, who will be Judaime's?"

Gokudera froze.

"Instead of working on it for my sake or Judaime's sake, why not work on it for your own sake?" Haru asked him. "And turn into the best right hand man the Vongola Famiglia or the mafia as a whole has ever seen?"

#

Haru slipped up beside Gokudera the next morning and kissed his cheek as stormy green eyes glared at the rain lashing at the window. "Coffee will be ready soon," she said. "Judaime will be here at about ten or so. If things go well, I'll be home around one and then we can go down to the Underground together. Spanner e-mailed me last night and told me that he and Irie-san had done what they could with my laptop."

He turned and caught her arm, bringing her against him in a tight hug. He burrowed his face in her hair, narrowly dodging the kanzashi and took a deep breath.

"I still don't like it, you know," Gokudera said. "You're going into a dangerous situation and I'm not allowed to go with you."

"Reborn will be there and so will Yamamoto," Haru said. "We'll be fine."

"Do you really think I'm going to trust the baseball idiot to take care of you, you're hard-headed and stubborn and he's too easy going," Gokudera mumbled. "He'll let you do anything you please…"

Haru laughed softly. "Even if he would, I doubt Reborn would allow me to do anything to put this in jeopardy," she said. "Kudaime will be here in four days. We've already settled one threat; I don't think they would take it very well if I were to create a new threat by screwing up these negotiations."

Gokudera released Haru and she stepped back and he took a moment to admire her trim form dressed in a black skirt suit. "I'll see you later then," he said reluctantly.

Haru nodded and gathered her briefcase and headed for the door. Gokudera had returned to the Miura house when Haru returned from Kyoto, but it felt strange to be sharing the space with both Chrome and Haru.

The coffee pot chimed its finish and Gokudera moved to pour himself a cup and prepare for another long tutoring session with his Boss.

Haru popped her umbrella open before she left the shelter of the overhang and stepped onto the wet pavement of the walkway that led to the gate. Outside the gate, Yamamoto was already waiting for her with Reborn riding on his shoulder and the umbrella the baseball player held over his head was a familiar bright green color. "Ready for this?" Reborn asked Haru.

"Haru's always ready," Haru grinned, using her old third person address, and then sobered a bit, "or at least as ready as I can be. Let's get this done and over with for now."

They made their way to Plaza Hotel where they'd be meeting the Hermosillo representatives in a conference room. Waiting outside of the conference room was a familiar figure wrapped in the ornate red silk of a kimono and Haru's eyes widened. "Why…" she began.

"My presence was apparently requested last time you met with these people, so I figured I wouldn't disappoint them this time," Akai smiled and produced her kitsune mask from her sleeve.

"But it's a Vongola matter," Haru frowned.

Akai shrugged. "Madame Cho decided that I should accompany you today and Reborn agreed, so I will," she said. "That's an order from my Boss."

Akai slipped the mask on over her made-up features and held a finger over her lips indicating that she would be a silent presence today. Haru nodded and Yamamoto opened the door after knocking and preceded her in with Reborn and Akai followed her.

"I see you brought the fox today," Victoria Hermosillo said, her gray eyes going to the form in the kimono.

Haru nodded and moved to her seat at the table. "You seemed particularly anxious to see her last time, so I was given permission to bring her with me by my Boss and Madame Cho," Haru replied. "I do apologize for my absence at the last meeting. Something urgent came up and I was unable to pass word along to reschedule."

"We have been dealing with your companion Yamamoto," Victoria said. "I assume you've been given the revised contracts?"

"I read them as soon as I returned from Kyoto," Haru said. "I'd like to discuss a few of the items with more depth to make sure everything is set."

The meeting dragged on for what felt like forever, but Haru maintained her amiable mask even as she insisted on changes. She'd sat in on a few meetings Lady Tomi had scheduled and allowed her to attend and watched as the older woman had dealt with difficult negotiations. Filing away what she learned, Haru now applied it to the situation she found herself in now.

Finally as it dragged on to two o' clock, they finalized the details and shook on it and Haru watched Victoria leave the room first, waiting to stand until the door was closed behind all of the Hermosillo representatives. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before opening them. "Did that go better this time, Reborn?" she asked.

"You did well, Haru," Reborn said with a smile. "I see your tutoring has done you some good."

Akai shifted her mask up and smiled at Haru. "They gave a lot away in the meeting if you knew what to look for," she said. "I think I made them nervous. You do know, of course, that the details of the meeting are going to make it directly to Madame Cho's ears."

Haru nodded. "Yes," she said and stood and stretched. "I think we'll call it a day."

She reached into her bag and withdrew her phone and saw two missed calls and five text messages and shook her head. "Give me a moment please?" she requested and dialed the number on her phone and stepped through the door to hear the phone ringing less than ten feet down the hall.

She laughed and shut her cell phone and turned to see Gokudera bearing down on her. "I can't exactly text in the middle of negotiations to let you know that it's going to be longer," Haru pointed out.

"Judaime sent me," Gokudera said. "He's waiting in the restaurant downstairs with his father."

Haru blinked. "They're that worried?" she asked.

Gokudera shrugged. "Don't know. You're all right though?"

"Yes, I'm fine, I had good company," Haru said and the door of the conference room expelled the other members of the group.

"Why was Akai allowed to attend and I wasn't?" Gokudera snapped, his eyes going to Reborn.

"Akai knows how to control herself and it showed a solidarity between the Vongola Famiglia and the Hanatachi Clan," Reborn replied.

"But, she's not Vongola," Gokudera frowned. "Won't that compromise things?"

"Not particularly," Akai said. "Haru sent me to go get tea at opportune moments. What I did see, of course, will be relayed to Madame Cho. It's my job."

"You're all to come down to the restaurant," Gokudera said.

With a start Haru realized that Gokudera was wearing a black suit like Reborn's and nodded slowly.

"I will have to decline," Akai said. "I have some other matters to attend since I'm all decked out in my official finery anyway. Thank Vongola Decimo and Sawada-san for the invitation."

Akai departed and the rest of them caught the elevator down and Gokudera led the way to the restaurant. They were immediately ushered to a table towards the back of the restaurant and Iemitsu rose and pulled out a chair for Haru while the others settled around the table. Haru turned her attention to Tsuna and handed him the sheaf of papers. "The contracts, Judaime," she said. "If you have any questions about them you can ask Reborn or me. At present, things are settled with the Hermosillo Familia and they won't be a threat for Kudaime's visit."

Tsuna accepted them with a startled look on his face.

"You're the Boss, No Good Tsuna," Reborn said, "so you're the first to see them after negotiations are complete. You'll have to sign them and affix your seal. I'll teach you how to do it when we get back. For now…"

The hitman glanced at Iemitsu and the man nodded and reached into his own suit and pulled out three black envelopes and handed one to each of the teenagers.

"Hahi!" Haru gasped and nearly dropped the envelope when orange flame burst out of the wax seal.

She scrambled enough to manage not to drop it and blushed at the amused look that Iemitsu gave her. "I suppose it's the first time you've received an invitation sealed with Nono's Flame?"

"Y-yes," Haru said and drew in a deep breath and scrambled to recover her equilibrium.

She opened the envelope and withdrew the invitation and read it:

Haru Miura

Your Presence is Required

On

This Saturday, August 31st

At

Namimori Plaza Hotel, 7 PM

Formal Evening Dress is Required


	9. Ch 8: Clearing the Air

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **ACK! Sorry I'm late guys, I got caught up in something yesterday and didn't spend a lot of time in front of my computer.

I think this is the first time in a while I've written Kyoko and Haru in a long time.

Anyway, here's chapter eight, I hope you all enjoy it. There's only a few more chapters left of this one to go (and yes, there will be a followup) so please stay with me to the end.

**Katekyo Hitman Reborn!** isn't mine, it's Akira Amano's, the storyline and original characters are mine.

Next update will be around February 19th.

I am going to attempt to do a Valentine's story between now and Valentine's Day, but I'm not sure if it will be KHR or something else. It's been a while since I did a one-shot *laughs*

Take care!

~ Yuki

* * *

**Target 08-03: Clearing the Air**

Haru's phone rang shrilly and she scrambled out of the shower, recognizing Kyoko's ringtone. She managed to catch it just before it went to voice mail.

"Hello. It's Haru."

"Did you get one too?"

Kyoko's voice was vibrating with nervousness. "One what?" Haru prompted.

"An invitation that had orange fire burst from it…" Kyoko said. "I…"

"It's okay, Kyoko-chan," Haru said gently. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, they didn't hurt or anything and they have a marking like on that ring that Nii-chan and Tsuna-kun have," Kyoko said slowly. "It says there's going to be a party at that fancy hotel downtown and I'm requested to attend."

"I have one too," Haru told her. "It says evening wear is required."

"D-do they mean something really fancy, like on TV?" Kyoko asked.

"Probably," Haru said.

"I-I don't have anything like that…" Kyoko said, "and we really don't have the extra money for an expense like that, and…"

"Don't worry, Kyoko-chan, I've got this handled," Haru said firmly. "We'll meet on Wednesday and go shopping. Your parents are allowing you to go?"

"Yes, I managed to talk them into it. Tsuna-kun came by and formally requested that I accompany him," Kyoko sounded somewhat bemused. "Father was going to say no, but decided to relent at the last moment. I just…"

"Trust me, Kyoko-chan," Haru smiled.

"A-all right," she said. "Is Chrome-chan coming as well?"

"Yes, her invitation is on the table waiting for her to return and open it," Haru said.

"Maybe we can all go shopping?" Kyoko asked hopefully.

"Indubitably," Haru smiled.

The girls met up for the first time in what felt like a long time and Kyoko was all smiles as Haru and Chrome joined her. For the first time since just before Tanabata, Haru saw Kyoko's smile reach all the way to her eyes and they tried to catch up on all the weeks of silence with nonstop chatter. The girls went through some of the pricier boutiques before finally finding appropriate clothing and accessories. Haru paid for all of it, deciding she didn't have to let Kyoko know that the money came from the Vongola Nono via Iemitsu Sawada unless she asked. Akai met up with them after the dress shopping and they took up residence at one of the booths in their favorite cake shops.

Time slipped away from the girls only interrupted with Kyoko having to pause and send a message to her father about where she was and what she was doing every fifteen to thirty minutes or so. "How are things going with your studies?" Haru asked Kyoko as they made their way through along the sidewalk as dusk settled in.

Chrome and Akai had departed earlier and it was just the two of them for the first time since their interrupted conversation in the hospital room so long ago. "Good," Kyoko said. "I talked my father into letting me study at one of the schools with a really good science track. They have a lot of graduates that go on to University of Tokyo Medical College. I toured the school while you were in Kyoto, so I haven't had a chance to tell you much about it."

"I'm happy you found someplace down there you wouldn't mind going to," Haru said.

"I'd still rather stay in Namimori, but my parents aren't budging on it," Kyoko said. "Ryohei is going to be staying with Yamamoto while he's in school so that my parents can sell the house."

"They're pulling that far out of Namimori?" Haru asked.

Kyoko nodded. "Yes. They'd be happier if Ryohei would agree to transfer down into one of the Okinawa high schools too, but he's determined to stay. He says he can't abandon the boxing team."

They walked in silence for a while longer and then Kyoko veered off the sidewalk into one of the small parks that populated the city. Haru followed her automatically and settled in one of the swings next to Kyoko. "Haru-chan, tell me what's happening with you and with everyone. Please? While we still have time…"

Haru was silent for a moment then dug her feet into the sand and pushed off, starting the swing moving. "Are you sure you want to hear all of it?" she asked.

"It's the least I deserve, don't you think, Haru-chan?" Kyoko replied.

"If I tell you all of it, everything is going to change…" Haru said softly.

"It already has," Kyoko replied. "Please, Haru-chan. I need to know before I go to Okinawa or whatever I make up in my head is probably going to be fifty times worse."

Haru laughed humorlessly. "I'm not so sure about that, Kyoko-chan…" she said.

Kyoko's expression was hard to decipher through the shadows cast by the nearly full moon overhead, but Haru was pretty sure she'd seen a similar determined look at other points in their acquaintance—like the day they'd commanded Tsuna to tell them everything or they'd go on strike. "Okay, here goes nothing," Haru said and slowed her swing down to a near stop and began to speak.

They'd had to pause in the conversation for a moment to go grab juice from one of the vending machines and returned to their seats as Haru gave her best friend exactly what she requested.

"You went through all that…alone?" Kyoko's eyes were sheened with tears. "You should've talked to me or something…"

"You are the most important thing in Judaime's world, Kyoko-chan," Haru said. "Everything we keep from you is because he doesn't want to tangle you up in the darkness that bogs down the mafia world. He wants to protect your happy smile forever and even if he can't escape from the mafia world, he doesn't want you to have the need to escape. He wanted it that way for me as well, but more for you…"

"Oh Haru-chan…" Kyoko said. "I—"

"Don't be sorry," Haru smiled. "I still love Judaime, but it's different now. I have someone else I care about like that and who returns my feelings—I'm okay."

"I…I never realized that he felt that way about me," Kyoko said slowly. "I like Tsuna-kun well enough, but I don't think it's the same as he feels for me…"

"Maybe that will change, Judaime really is a special person," Haru said.

"Maybe, but we're going to miss so much of each other's lives once we finish junior high," Kyoko said.

"Wait and see what happens," Haru said. "You can't be sure of what the future holds."

"What about you and Gokudera?" Kyoko asked.

Haru jumped. "What about Gokudera?" she asked.

Kyoko giggled. "You don't think I haven't noticed how you two have been acting around each other since June or so?" she asked. "He's the person you love now, isn't he?"

Haru cleared her throat and twisted the strands of her ponytail around her finger as she tried to figure out how she was going to answer her best friend's question. "You can't lie to me, Haru-chan, even if we haven't been around each other near as much as we used to be," Kyoko said. "I can see that you're blushing."

"I am not!" Haru protested, jumping up from the swing and taking a couple steps away, even if she hadn't been blushing, she was now.

Kyoko giggled and rose from the swing and dashed across the sand and caught her arm. After a long moment, Haru dissolved into laughter as well and finally admitted that it was Gokudera she was in love with.

The girls chatted happily all the way back to Kyoko's house and they stopped outside the gate.

"It was so good to be able to hang out with you again," Kyoko said. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Haru smiled. "I'll see you Saturday night?"

Kyoko nodded. "I'm going to see if Mom and Dad will let me hang out with you again as long as I send notifications to them the way I did tonight. If I'm only going to be here for another six months or so, I want to cram as much time in with all my friends as I can. Maybe they'll see that I came out of tonight unscathed and can be made to see reason—at least about keeping me away from everyone. I don't think they'll be swayed at all from moving to Okinawa."

Haru nodded and then paused. "Kyoko-chan…"

"Hmmm?" the chestnut-haired girl asked.

"Are you really okay with everything?" Haru asked, uncertainty tinged her voice, she hadn't held anything back while talking to Kyoko.

"Haru-chan is Haru-chan still; you're still you even if things have happened that you never wanted to," Kyoko said. "I'd be a worse person if I pushed you away. You're still my best friend, Haru, and when I become a doctor I am going to be right back here in Namimori where I belong with you and everyone."

Haru's eyes flooded with tears and she flung her arms around Kyoko and the chestnut-haired girl hugged her back.

"Kyoko, is that you?"

Ryohei's voice echoed in the dark and the two girls pulled apart.

"I'm home, Onii-san," she said. "I'll be in soon."

Haru took a couple steps back and smiled at her friend. "See you on Saturday."

With that, the brunette dashed into the night and Kyoko smiled and turned and walked in her family's front gate.


	10. Ch 9: Black Tie Affair

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **This one may be a little rough. I apologize-this is kind of a drive-by update, I should've left for work 5 minutes ago ^^;

KHR isn't mine, it belongs to Amano-sensei. Original Characters, storyline, etc. are mine.

Next update: Around March 5, 2015

* * *

**Target 09-03: Black Tie Affair**

Haru and Chrome were picked up at six o' clock sharp by a dark limo with tinted windows. They settled in the seat and Haru looked across the dim interior at Chrome. "Is he going to come tonight?" she asked.

"Mukuro-sama?" Chrome asked and then shook her head at Haru's nod. "Mukuro-sama isn't interested in such gatherings. I'm only going because you and Kyoko wanted to. So many people are expected to be there…are we going to be picking up Gokudera and Yamamoto?"

Haru shook her head. The silver-haired hitman had returned to his apartment to get ready for the party and told her that he'd be arriving separately, but they could meet up at the party.

"They're going separately," Haru said. "Kudaime said that he wanted to speak to the Tenth Generation Guardians before the party. I was surprised you didn't get an early summons as well."

"I'm not the Vongola Mist Guardian anymore," Chrome said, she displayed a ring that looked similar to Haru's but with the symbols for the Mist Flame on it. "Mukuro-sama is Boss's Mist Guardian. I'm just a member of the Famiglia and I've been assigned to work primarily with you."

"Are you okay with that?" Haru asked uncertainly.

Chrome smiled. "I like working with you. I learn a lot when we're going through the reports you've been getting and I feel like I'm useful. Boss doesn't really need someone like me to defend him. I've still got a long way to go to match Mukuro-sama and the others too."

#

Nana's capable fingers rewound Tsuna's tie carefully, she was wearing a yellow evening gown and Iemitsu was holding onto her jacket. Iemitsu's presence here put him on edge about this upcoming party. Basil was dressed in a formal suit as well and chatting with Fuuta while I-Pin and Lambo were digging into the food that Nana had made before getting ready for the party. "Are you sure you're going to be all right, Fuuta?" Tsuna asked. "I could stay and h—"

"No, you can't," Reborn said.

"Hiee…" Tsuna said.

"Don't worry the Chiavarone Famiglia has agreed to keep an eye on things so nothing happens," Iemitsu said. "Dino and Romario will be at the party, but everyone else Dino could bring is here."

"Dino-san is going to be at the party?" Tsuna smiled delightedly, he hadn't seen the blond Boss in a while, and then his eyes narrowed. "What kind of party is this?"

"You'll see when you get there," Reborn said and Bianchi finally emerged dressed in a black dress that glittered with sequins and heels a mile high.

"We're ready then?" Iemitsu asked.

Tsuna said nothing, but the 'no' was obvious in his eyes, but they headed out to the dark car waiting for them, amongst the slew of men in dark suits.

They settled into the backseat and Nana gushed over everything, excited to have a night out with her husband that didn't involve the little ones, even if her teenaged son was with them. Bianchi held Reborn in her lap, a satisfied look on her face as the former Arcobaleno settled in. Tsuna and Basil struck up a conversation discussing everything that had been going on since they last met up and Tsuna relaxed a bit, enjoying the company of someone who wasn't quite as overwhelming as his father and tutor.

Nervousness twisted Tsuna's stomach as the car whispered through the streets of Namimori to Kyoko's house. Tsuna hoped that tonight wasn't going to turn into another date like the one they'd had at the zoo, which he couldn't even really consider a date with everything that happened or any of the other numerous times he managed to get Kyoko somewhat alone with him. Something was shoved into his hands and he glanced down at the yellow roses. "A little bit of something for Kyoko-chan," his father said. "Girls love roses, don't they dear?"

"Oh yes," Nana breathed and Tsuna noted that she was holding a bouquet of red roses that she hadn't been before.

Tsuna eyed his father warily—he was being oddly…normal…tonight…

#

Gokudera stepped out of the limo followed by Yamamoto and looked up at the well-lit hotel. He thanked the driver automatically, not entirely unfamiliar with being driven to various places by car. The baseball idiot was taking everything in stride as he always did and didn't seem to feel the least bit out of place as they made their way to the door. Yamamoto had a case for his bats slung across his back, but Gokudera was relatively sure that it didn't actually hold his bat—so undoubtedly he was a little leery of this as well.

They stepped through into the lobby and Gokudera led the way to the counter and handed the clerk his invitation. She glanced it over and gave him directions to the conference room they were expected in after she also looked over Yamamoto's invitation. "I don't think I've ever attended something quite like this before," Yamamoto murmured as they made their way up the carpeted staircase to the second floor instead of going to the crowded elevator.

"Che, it's nothing special," Gokudera said. "Just don't make a fool out of yourself baseball idiot."

Yamamoto laughed in that ridiculous way of his and then abruptly went serious as they approached the door flanked by two large men. Their eyes widened as they recognized one of them. Lancia regarded them gravely and bowed before opening the door to let them in.

"Ah, Gokudera-san, Yamamoto-san, welcome. Vongola Nono is waiting for you."

The words came from an older gentleman with a steel arm and Yamamoto looked confused. "Kudaime's Storm Guardian, Coyote Nougat," Gokudera murmured as they automatically fell in step behind him. "He was at the Judaime's Inheritance Ceremony and took us to the island."

"Who are the others?" Yamamoto asked, he recognized the Ninth from the Ring Battles.

Gokudera quietly pointed out the remaining guardians figuring that's what Yamamoto meant. They were led to the table and found that Ryohei was already seated and looking extremely uncomfortable. To their surprise Hibari was seated at the table and somehow Mukuro also seemed to have a presence, but both of the latter were being watched very carefully by the other men in the room. Mukuro's lips curled in a sneer as he watched them—he hadn't bothered to change out of his Kokuyo uniform.

Timoteo rose from his chair and gravely nodded at each of them. "Thank you for coming here tonight," he said. "

"Get this over with herbivore, I hate it when people crowd around like this," Hibari stated flatly, his retractable tonfas grated as he opened them and closed them again. "It makes me want to bite them all to death."

Timoteo's attendants stiffened and he held up a hand to stay any action. "Of course," he said. "Let's get this discussion started, there is a party to move to…"

"Why isn't Judaime here?" Gokudera demanded.

"Watch your tongue," Coyote Nougat growled.

"Because this has to do with the future Tenth's Guardians, not the Tenth himself," Timoteo said coolly. "Now pay attention…"

It was nearly an hour later before they were able to leave the conference room. Mukuro had vanished like fine mist as soon as they'd been dismissed and Hibari had been the first out the door before anyone else had even collected themselves to rise. He was muttering about biting the man with the whip to death for making him waste his time.

"Well, that probably could have gone better," Yamamoto murmured as they exited.

"What are you talking about, baseball idiot?" Gokudera demanded.

Yamamoto shook his head. "Nothing," he said.

"Why I ought to…" Gokudera began.

"Gokudera?"

It was Haru's voice and Gokudera's attention immediately snapped to the brunette wearing a deep burgundy gown and strappy heels that put her almost of a height with him. The meeting was forgotten for the moment and he quickly crossed the red carpeted hall to his girlfriend. "Did you just get here?" he asked.

"Yes, the elevator was too crowded so we decided to brave the stairs," Haru said and glanced over her shoulder at Chrome who was watching the closed conference room door intently.

"Is Mukuro-sama still here?" she asked the Guardians in front of her.

"I don't know if he was actually there to start with," Yamamoto said. "He vanished as soon as the meeting ended."

"What was the meeting about?" Haru asked.

"I can't say," Gokudera said apologetically.

"I suppose I'll find out eventually," Haru sighed. "Are you still coming to the party?"

"Of course," Gokudera said and offered her his arm.

Haru smiled and slipped her arm through his and let the Vongola Storm Guardian escort her towards the ball room the party was being held in. Yamamoto and Ryohei fell back into step with Chrome though none of them said anything as they made their way down the hall. Their invitations were checked at the door and they entered.

Soft music poured from a piano in the corner of the room and the tinkle of high-quality glassware echoed over the low murmur of those in attendance. Gokudera recognized several of the Japanese mafia elite as well as several family heads from Italy and felt himself tense up a little more. There was so much power in one room and if someone was inclined…he shuddered at the havoc that would break out if someone attacked right now.

He recognized Enma and Adelheid amongst the guests, Dino, and even Squalo wound through the party, though Squalo had a rather large space around him and scowled at anyone who came close, his hand twitching towards the missing sword he usually carried. They'd taken all of their weapons at the door and secured them much to their dismay, handing each of them a number to reclaim them after the festivities ended. Haru had been able to keep the kanzashi in her hair, but the various bodyguards around the room kept a stricter eye on her as they moved through the crowd.

#

Haru pulled away from Gokudera after they'd taken several steps in. "You've already greeted the host, but Chrome-chan and I haven't so we'd better go do that," she explained. "Judaime should be here soon. They were leaving his house a little bit after we were picked up."

The exchange with the host were brief, though Haru felt like he looked right through her and seemed to know everything about her in a heartbeat. After greetings were exchanged, Chrome moved away to find something to drink and Haru found her wrist caught by the older Boss. She looked at him in surprise and he smiled. "Thank you for taking care of Tsunayoshi, Miura-san, we've been watching your progress with interest."

"Hahi…" Haru breathed before she could stop it and then recovered by bowing low. "O-of course."

He gave her another nod and Haru headed to join her friends, but was diverted by the sight of two familiar figures dressed in kimono. She smiled and glanced over to see Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Ryohei waiting near the door for Tsuna and Kyoko's arrival and cut across the floor to greet Madame Cho and Akai.

"Haru, you look lovely tonight," Madame Cho smiled as she came into view.

Haru dropped her eyes for a moment and mumbled something about being nothing special, but the Boss of the Hanatachi Clan reached out and placed a long-nailed finger under her chin and forced her eyes up. "No need for modesty, child, you're among Family," Madame Cho smiled.

"Those are new kanzashi," Akai said, reaching out and adjusting the hair ornaments automatically. "Have you been cheating on us?"

Haru quickly shook her head, the ornaments on the pins chiming. "I actually owned them before I came to the shop," Haru said. "They're only going to be mildly effective if I have to use them as weapons tonight, but…"

"Vongola Decimo's Cloud Guardian seems to be absent," Akai murmured.

"Hibari-san does not like crowds," Haru said.

"Ah, he's that child," Madame Cho said and laughed softly. "It's likely just as well then."

"That child?" Haru repeated questioningly.

Madame Cho shook her head. "It's nothing, Haru," she said. "We've exchanged greetings; it's probably just as well you wander on lest people think we're striking a bargain of some form."

Sudden silence filled the room as the doors opened to admit first Iemitsu and Nana followed by Reborn, and Bianchi. After finishing up a brief conversation with Lancia, a beaming Tsuna entered the room with Kyoko holding onto his arm. Basil brought up the rear after Tsuna.

Gokudera relaxed minutely and glanced at Yamamoto and Ryohei. They nodded and also seemed to relax. No matter what happened they had some solid allies here now.

Tsuna glanced up at the sudden silence and his breath caught as his foot caught on the carpet, but he was kept from falling by Gokudera's quick hands. "Judaime," he greeted him.

"Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto, _onii-san_…you're here already?" Tsuna blinked.

"Of course," Gokudera snorted.

"Yo, Tsuna," Yamamoto greeted casually.

"Go greet Kudaime first," Gokudera advised. "He's the host, so he should be your first stop before you worry about anything else."

"O-Okay…" Tsuna said. "You've been to parties like this before?"

"Of course," Gokudera snorted. "Follow my lead. You too, baseball idiot, turf top, we don't want to embarrass Judaime."

Yamamoto chuckled softly and nodded and the four made their way back to where Kudaime was holding court. Reborn and Iemitsu had beaten Tsuna to greeting the host, but when his turn came Tsuna bowed to the Ninth Generation Boss who gave him a warm smile. "You're looking well, Tsunayoshi," Timoteo said. "Thank you for coming to the party tonight. Your date is lovely. Please introduce us?"

"Ah…this is Sasagawa Kyoko-san," Tsuna managed and Kyoko beamed at Vongola Nono and inclined herself in a bow.

The Ninth Boss gestured him in closer. Tsuna leaned in obligingly. "Note these faces, Tsunayoshi, they are the strongest present on Japanese soil now. They will be valuable allies, but can also at a moments' notice become your enemy."

"Kudaime…" Tsuna trailed off.

"Even as an organization meant to protect, it is good to know the faces of those who could oppose you or help you," Timoteo stated, his voice for Tsuna's ears only.

Tsuna's eyes widened and then he nodded slowly.

"Most do not know your official position," Timoteo continued. "A few will be aware from the Inheritance Ceremony and I can't say who they've spoken to. However, take this opportunity to familiarize yourself with them. This was planned with these opportunities in mind—that is why all of your Guardians and those closest to the core of the Tenth Generation were invited."

Tsuna's stomach churned, but he nodded slowly. "Okay…" he said uncertainly.

Kyoko had been engaged in conversation with one of Kudaime's other Guardians, but when Tsuna pulled back the conversation came to a close and Tsuna managed a smile for Kyoko. "Are you thirsty?" he asked.

She nodded and they headed off to find drinks. His closest Guardians kept close to him, watching everything around them for a threat.

"It's good he brought Kyoko-chan tonight," Akai noted.

Haru turned to see her friend approaching with a glass of water that she offered to her. "Oh?"

"There are a lot of the elite here with unmarried daughters that may take an interest in Sawada Tsunayoshi-kun," Akai noted.

"Hahi?"

"It is not too early to begin laying foundations for possible alliances," Akai murmured.

"B-but Judaime's only fifteen and…"

"Never too early," Akai repeated. "There's some people you should probably meet here before it gets too late. Come with me."

Haru followed Akai through the crowds and realized they were drawing in closer to Tsuna and Kyoko. Tsuna was sending Kyoko off with Ryohei after his tutor murmured something in his ear and they approached, catching the conversation.

"Tsuna, there are some people you should meet, come with us," Reborn said.

"If I have to," Tsuna mumbled.

"We'll talk about that attitude later," Reborn said. "Let's go."

"Y-yes…" Tsuna said and followed leaving Yamamoto and Haru alone for the moment.

Yamamoto watched Tsuna go and then looked at Haru. "You're really good at handling this type of situation," he noted.

"My father sometimes gets invited to parties like this as a well-respected university professor and he's taken me along on a few of them," Haru replied. "They're not hard except for the part about watching everything you say and do. Lady Tomi also drilled more of the etiquette in me while I was training with her."

Yamamoto laughed. "If I'm going to have to attend more of these in the future, I'll have to get some lessons from you on them."

Haru smiled. "I'd be happy to help," she said.

She turned to talk to Akai, but found that her kimono-clad friend had been drawn into a conversation with some of the other attendees. Akai caught her eye and gestured for her to move on and Haru nodded before seeking out Tsuna.

She found Tsuna looking supremely uncomfortable with an older man. It took her a long moment to recognized Maiko Ishida, the red Chinese-style dress completely at odds with what Haru usually saw her in, accompanying the older gentleman. "I'll go check on Judaime," she told Yamamoto. "Go ahead and get a plate of food from the table and relax a little bit."

She skimmed the gathering for Kyoko and found her and Ryohei at one of the out-of-the-way tables. Kyoko was watching everything with wide-eyed wonder and Ryohei devoured a ridiculous plate of food.

She moved to the waiter circulating the gathering with drinks and snagged a couple water glasses from him and headed for Tsuna, arriving at his elbow and startling him. "H-haru!" he exclaimed.

"You looked like you were thirsty, Judaime," she said. "I thought you'd like some water."

"Y-yes, thank you," Tsuna managed.

"This is Ishida Masao-san," Reborn introduced them. "This is Miura Haru."

A slight smile curved Masao Ishida's lips. "I do believe I've heard quite a bit about you from my wife, Miura-san," he said.

Haru's eyes went wide as she put his name together with Maiko and then her bow deepened instantly. "Please give my regards to Lady Tomi."

"Of course," Masao said. "You've met my daughter Maiko?"

Haru met the girl's blue violet eyes and she bowed, carefully handling the glasses. "We've had a chance to become acquainted," she said guardedly and Maiko smirked the expression was quickly hidden as she returned the bow.

"You look well, Miura-san," she said.

Greetings finished, Haru handed Tsuna the glass.

Haru made small talk for a little while until Tsuna seemed to become less tense and then she politely excused herself to go check on Kyoko and send her back to the Vongola Decimo's side to show Ishida-san that any thoughts of having designs on Tsuna for his daughter were futile. After she spoke with Kyoko and the girl headed towards Tsuna, Haru looked over the gathering to find a familiar head of silver hair, but couldn't see Gokudera anywhere in sight.

As she moved towards the balcony door, she passed a group of women on the outer edge of the gathering speaking to each other.

"…that's the Tenth Generation Vongola Boss?" one snickered. "I have to say I'm rather disappointed. I thought he'd be much more…everything…"

"The other two boys that follow him are closer to what I'd envision as a mafia boss," another commented, "but even worse, did you see those sorry sows? Those girls are going to be worthless to him. Neither is worth looking at any more than their loser boss. This will be the beginning of the end for the Vongola. Just you watch."

Haru's eyes narrowed and the women continued talking. Her fists clenched and she nearly launched herself at them to prove how far from useless she was. Instead, she moved towards the waiter that was passing by the women and "accidentally" bumped him, giving him a mental apology as the glasses on the tray tipped beyond recovery and splashed all over the gossipers.

"Oh, Haru is sorry," she said to the waiter apologetically, ignoring the outraged looks on the women's faces. "Haru is such a clumsy child and is incapable of doing anything right."

She smirked to herself and turned away, making a bee line for the balcony door while several of the waiters converged on the women offering napkins and apologies.

"You did that on purpose."

"Hahi!" Haru jumped and turned to look at Gokudera.

The silver-haired demolitionist was leaning against the railing of the balcony and Haru chuckled. "Probably," she replied.

"You're still just a kid," Gokudera smirked.

"You likely would have done the same or worse" Haru observed. "They were saying that Judaime was a loser and would bring about the end of the Vongola."

"They did what?" Gokudera's eyes flashed and he clenched his hand straightening from the railing.

"Exactly," Haru said.

Gokudera gave her a dark look and took another drag of his cigarette forcing himself to relax. "We both need to get better about our impulse control," he said with a wry smile and reached out and tugged her in closer to him after stubbing out his cigarette. "Those women are not low-ranking members of the mafia; they could cause a lot of trouble for Judaime in the future if they chose to."

"Well they shouldn't say things like that about him," Haru muttered.

Gokudera chuckled and turned to face her completely. "You look gorgeous tonight," he said, his thumb smoothing over her glossed lips.

"Out here in front of everyone?" Haru asked him.

Gokudera darted a glance towards the party and then lowered his lips to hers and caught them warmly. She thought about pulling back for a moment, but decided not to and the kiss deepened. After a long moment, Gokudera pulled back.

"You taste like an ashtray," Haru grimaced.

"I'll have to remember mints next time then," he replied.

"Or you could stop smoking…" Haru said.

Gokudera shook his head. "Not going to happen. We should probably go back in."

Haru nodded and the two reentered the party and found their boss and wound their way through the crowds towards him, noting that the others had also returned to his side.


	11. Ch 10 The Last Winter Storm

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Good evening ^_^

Sorry for the delay in posting this RL is getting in way of the important things like playing with Dragon on Flight Rising and updating my fan fictions on time.

There's only one part left to this particular story. Thank you for sticking with me all the way through this.

KHR doesn't belong to me it belongs to Amano-sensei, but my original characters, storyline, etc. are results of my overactive imagination and therefore mine to do with as I please XD

Next update will be around March 19th.

PS: Don't kill me, it's not forever XD

* * *

**Target 10-03: The Last Winter Storm**

It was early March and the silence in Take Sushi was heavy and the sushi platter was left untouched in the middle of the table as the Vongola Tenth Generation stared at their Boss in disbelief. "If this is a joke Tsuna, it is extremely _not_ funny," Ryohei said darkly.

"Do you think I'd joke about something like this, _onii-san_?" Tsuna asked his Sun Guardian.

"Well, you can try again next year," Haru offered up. "We can go over everything again…"

Tsuna shook his head. "No, it's not an option," he said.

"But Italy is so incredibly far away…" Haru said.

"I failed the easiest high school entrance test in the entire prefecture," Tsuna sighed, "I really am no good."

"Judaime…" Haru began.

A hand settled on her shoulder and her eyes flew to Gokudera who shook his head silently.

"I'm not being given a choice," Tsuna said grimly, flopping into his chair and casting a pleading look at Reborn.

The Arcobaleno sipped his espresso and played with Leon, completely ignoring the young mafia hitman arrayed around him.

"What are your orders once you're gone?" Yamamoto asked, of everyone in attendance at the meeting he was the calmest along with Gokudera, which made Haru suspect that they'd already known.

"Maybe when I leave you guys can go back to living normal lives again," Tsuna said, looking at each of them. "If I'm not here, there's no reason for anyone in the mafia to come after Namimori. No need for you to get hurt anymore. I think it could be better all around."

"Do you?" Haru asked.

Her voice was ice.

"Hiee…" Tsuna's voice cracked.

"Do you honestly think that just because you're not here, they're going to stop coming?" Haru inquired. "When you leave Namimori there isn't going to be a glorious announcement in fireworks announcing that 'the Vongola Decimo is no longer in the building'. It's going to take months, if not years, for word to circulate to all 872 bosses in the mafia."

Tsuna flinched.

"In fact, it is more likely we're going to see more trouble because of it," Haru said. "You might not be here, but Namimori is known to be a stronghold for the Vongola and several of their allies. Without the Vongola Decimo here, there are those who may find it to be the most opportune time to strike."

"It can't be helped," Reborn finally said. "This was Kudaime's order."

"What?" Haru exclaimed.

Reborn produced a document burning with Kudaime's orange flames and it circulated the table. Haru was the last to get it and she read it over and closed her eyes. "What does he expect _us_ to do then?"

"Tsuna will have to appoint someone to act as the Vongola representative while he's in Italy," Reborn said.

"Well, that would be obvious wouldn't it?" Haru asked. "Gokudera…"

"I'm going with Judaime."

The words fell like a gauntlet in the middle of the table and Haru's eyes flew to her boyfriend.

"I'm his right hand man, I belong by his side," Gokudera said. "You understand, don't you?"

"No, I don't," Haru snapped and sprang up from her seat.

The chair hit the floor, but she ignored it, gathering her bag and heading for the door.

"Haru!"

The brunette ignored her Boss's call and stalked out the door, slamming it hard behind her though she added a mental apology to Tsuyoshi Yamamoto as an afterthought.

#

"Well…that could have gone better…" Yamamoto murmured.

"You didn't tell her before now that you weren't going to stay in Namimori?" Tsuna asked.

"You hadn't announced you were leaving yet," Gokudera said.

"Talk about extreme…" Ryohei murmured. "I wonder if I could talk her into joining the boxing team…"

"No, you can't," Gokudera snapped. "She's going to Takanamori, remember?"

"Why is she so upset anyway?" Ryohei asked. "I mean we're all extremely shocked by the fact that Tsuna's leaving, but that still seems like an overreaction…"

Tsuna looked at the white-haired boxer disbelievingly. "Are you that blind?" he blurted out without thinking.

"No, I can see perfectly fine," Ryohei answered.

Tsuna's head crashed into the table and Gokudera winced.

"I'm pretty oblivious when it comes to most of those things, but aren't you and Haru dating, Gokudera?" Yamamoto asked mildly.

"Well…we were…" Gokudera said, his eyes going worriedly to the door. "Judaime…"

"Go after her," Tsuna said, lifting his head. "We haven't gotten any reports of trouble, but you never know."

"Meanwhile, you still need to appoint one of your Guardians or another member of the Vongola to stand in your place," Reborn told Tsuna.

"Why do I have to do that?" Tsuna asked.

"You're the Boss."

#

The stone skittered down the sidewalk bouncing over the cracks in the pavement and when it stopped it was kicked again. Haru tightened her scarf around her neck and the words that escaped her mouth would almost put Gokudera to shame. It wasn't fair. She'd lost her first love to her best friend, even though Kyoko and Tsuna had never really agreed to go out or anything. Now she was losing Gokudera because of that stupid misguided sense of duty.

She paused.

Okay, maybe it wasn't misguided, but still the right hand man didn't _always_ have to be by the Boss's side. In fact, it served both of them better if the second was left in control of a situation when the Boss had to take care of other things. Everyone _knew_ who the second was and they would automatically turn to him for instructions if the Boss wasn't there.

"Why the long face?"

Haru's steps halted and her eyes flew up to the warm brown gaze of the blond man in the orange construction outfit. Even though it had long come into light who Iemitsu Sawada was, he still wore that stupid jumpsuit to keep his wife in the dark.

Haru didn't say anything, just moved to go around him.

"I assume you've heard Kudaime's orders then?" Iemitsu said.

"Maybe," Haru said and continued walking.

"It's the best move for the Famiglia, Haru," Iemitsu said. "Are you going to let your own selfish desires get in the way of what's good for the Famiglia?"

"It's a stupid idea," Haru said, "Tsuna-san leaving and Gokudera going with him. Who will be in charge of the Famiglia here now? Sasagawa-san?"

Haru snorted.

"No not him. What about Yamamoto?" Iemitsu said. "He's been learning the ropes of the politics as much as you."

"He's got baseball," Haru said. "I don't see Yamamoto giving that up so easily and if he did he'd be absolutely miserable. Who is going to protect Nana and the kids if Tsuna isn't around?"

"Nana, Lambo, I-Pin, and Fuuta will be leaving with us," Iemitsu informed her. "I'm tired of my wife and family living in a completely different country from me where I can't keep an eye on them."

Haru stopped and turned to face him. She cocked her head for a moment and then nodded. "That makes sense," she said. "I doubt you'll get Hibari to even contemplate stepping into the role and no one wants Mukuro to be the leader here—he'd destroy everything because he could. There's lots of members of the Vongola in the Underground and stationed around Namimori, I'm sure someone suitable can be found amongst them."

"It's good to see you can still be sensible," Iemitsu said. "There is one member of the Vongola that you haven't mentioned though."

Haru went through her mental list of all the Vongola Famiglia in Namimori, she'd compiled a database over the past several weeks with Gokudera and Yamamoto's assistance. Her lips pressed together in a thin line as the silver-haired demolitionist's name crossed her mind, but she set that aside to continue over the list. "Giannini wouldn't be suited for it though the machine shop wouldn't be a bad place to operate from. Spanner and Irie-san aren't ready for something like running the Japanese branch of the Vongola Famiglia. Maybe Bianchi?"

Iemitsu shook his head. "Where Reborn goes, Bianchi follows. She won't be staying on Japanese soil if he's in Italy."

"Well, there are a few others, but I don't know them personally, maybe…" Haru began, completely sidetracked from her rage at Gokudera as she sorted through her mental lists.

Something cold was pressed into her hand and she glanced down in shock as the light gilded over the Vongola Lightning Ring in her hand. "What? This is Lambo's…"

"Who has been working on setting up an intelligence network for the past six months?" Iemitsu asked.

"Well, um…me?" Haru said.

"Who has been putting in extra training even though she's not in a physical state to be doing it?" he continued.

"You don't have proof of that," Haru said.

"Dr. Tanpopo has been pretty open with the injuries she's been treating for you," he said.

"Traitor…" Haru grumbled.

"No, she's genuinely concerned about you Haru," he said. "You also put in extra training with Lady Tomi in Kyoto during your winter break."

"She required it and I didn't want to feel the 'gentleness' in Maiko's hands again if I refused," Haru said. "At least she gave me time to study in the evenings this time…"

"Who has been acting as the Vongola liaison with at least a half dozen different Families in the Namimori area?"

"Yamamoto has been helping me with that," Haru said. "I couldn't do half of what's needed without him to back me up."

Iemitsu folded her fingers around the ring. "Whether or not you can actually use that ring isn't sure, but it does have a certain clout when it comes to dealing with the Mafia," he said.

"Wait a minute…"

"Ah, now you're getting it aren't you, Haru?" Iemitsu smirked. "If I'd known you were a Lightning Flame and Nadeshiko's daughter when I was handing out the rings to start with, the Vongola Lightning Guardian might be a different person entirely now."

Haru shook her head. "Lambo is far more powerful than I am—or at least he will be based on what I've seen," she said.

"Yes, but he has a long way to go," Iemitsu said, "and you're going to need the influence that ring brings. He can reclaim it from you when he's learned enough."

"Hahi?" Haru gaped.

"Do I really need to spell it out for you?" Iemitsu asked. "Or do I need to give you the Ninth's written order?"

"Written order?" Haru squeaked.

"The one that names you as the Decimo's representative while Sawada Tsunayoshi is regrettably absent during the training phase of his education," Iemitsu said. "Of course it won't be official until Tsuna names you, but I'm sure he'll arrive at the correct conclusion before our flight departs. He's pretty dense, but he's got good instincts."

Haru was about to say something when her name echoed and she turned to see the moonlight splashing over Gokudera's silver hair. When she turned back to politely decline, Iemitsu Sawada was gone.

She clenched her hand around the lightning ring and stuffed it into her pocket; she'd return it to him later.

"What do you want?" Haru demanded.

"Do you know how stupid it is to go wandering off by yourself at this time of night?" Gokudera growled.

"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Gokudera," Haru said. "I'm going to have to be, considering you're leaving. After all who will protect poor, helpless Haru while big bad Gokudera is gone?"

"Haru—"

"Shut up, Gokudera, I really don't want to talk to you right now," Haru stated and whirled away.

The hitman caught her arm and she nearly stumbled. "Let go of me," she ordered.

"Not until you hear me out," Gokudera said.

Haru glared up at him. "What is there to hear out, Gokudera?" she asked. "You're leaving me here in Namimori while you follow Tsuna back to Italy because you're his right hand man. You've wanted to go back to Italy this whole time anyway…"

"No, I haven't," Gokudera said. "I need you to _listen_ to me Haru. I'm sorry; I should have told you before we met at the restaurant."

"You think?" Haru said. "Whatever gives you that impression? I mean it's perfectly fine to announce in front of the entire world that I'm not good enough for you to stay behind for."

"It's not like that, Haru," Gokudera said. "Judaime is going to need me in Italy. There's so much he doesn't know about what goes on there. The Mafia world there is a completely different level than the one here in Japan. He can get himself killed if he doesn't know when and where to step at the beginning. Fucking _Xanxus_ is in Italy and if Tsuna doesn't have someone watching out for him, he could be killed. That doesn't even bring into play any of the other Mafia Families. Japan is a small country, Haru, only a fraction of the other Mafia Families even acknowledges its existence. I grew up in Italy; I know how it goes there. I can't keep Judaime safe from Japan and the baseball idiot and turf top wouldn't have a fucking clue where to step. If you want Judaime to live then I _have_ to go with him."

"You don't have a whole lot of faith in him," Haru said.

"Wrong. I believe in Judaime to the very end. I don't have any faith in the other members of the Mafia," Gokudera said. "Give him a little while and he'll be able to watch out for himself, but until then he needs someone at his back."

"And after he can handle himself, you'll come back here?" Haru asked sweetly.

Gokudera shifted uncomfortably.

"I thought so," she said and yanked her arm out of his grasp. "I guess this is good-bye then."

"What?" Gokudera gasped.

"How long are you going to be in Italy, Gokudera?" Haru asked. "A year? Two? Maybe eight? Possibly ten? Or is it going to be twenty years? Are you ever going to come back?"

"I don't know," Gokudera said. "I'm sure Kudaime will send us back here at some point or summon the rest of the Famiglia from Japan…"

"But when?" Haru questioned.

"I love you, Haru," Gokudera blurted out, "but Tsuna is my _Boss _and I'm his right hand man."

"Even if I weren't pissed off at you to no end right now for keeping this from me, you'll be in _Italy_, Gokudera," Haru said quietly. "I love you too, but can we _really_ make it work?"

"If you loved me enough we could," Gokudera stated.

"I love you to the ends of the earth and back, Gokudera," Haru said, "but, we're still teenagers even if we're living like adults."

"We'll never know until we try," Gokudera said.

Haru closed her eyes.

Fingers slipped into her hair and a thumb glided along her jaw, urging her head up.

"Look at me, Haru," Gokudera ordered.

Haru's eyes opened and she met the stormy green eyes of the boy she loved.

Gokudera's lips came down on hers and if she had half a brain cell, she would have shoved him away and told him to go to hell, but every objection died as the kiss deepened. Her hand moved up and tangled into the material of his sweater and she shifted closer.

Gokudera lifted his head after a long moment and Haru let herself settle back into the frosted ground. "I will come back," he promised. "It may not be as soon as either of us likes, but once things settle, we'll figure things out."

Haru let her head drop to Gokudera's chest and he pulled her in closer.

"What if it doesn't work?" she finally asked.

"I'll blow up that bridge when we come to it," Gokudera said. "There's e-mail, video conferencing, and phones at least. It's not like we won't be able to have contact at all. I know you can take care of yourself and you have Akai to watch your back for you…and probably the baseball idiot."

The last was said grudgingly and Haru couldn't help but giggle.

"It's not nice to laugh at a guy when he's spilling his guts to you, stupid woman," Gokudera scolded.

"I can't help it, Bakadera," Haru said—the name had a surge of affection behind it.

"I know you'll be fine, Haru," Gokudera said softly, fingers stroking through her hair and lightly down her back, making her shiver. "I'm not so sure about Judaime—especially not during the first year or so. Kyoko won't be there for him to protect and level him out. He's not as bad as Dino by any stretch of the imagination, but he needs someone there for him."

"I can still resent a little bit my boyfriend being taken from me," Haru grumbled.

#

The next morning after classes let out, Haru exited Midori Junior High to find the Tenth Vongola Boss leaning against the cherry tree like he had the first day of the school year what seemed like ages ago.

So much had changed since then.

Haru strode up to him and smoothed her finger down the furrow between his eyebrows. "You're supposed to wait almost ten years before that becomes a permanent fixture, Tsuna-san," she said.

Tsuna jumped at her words and gave her a weak smile. "Hello, Haru."

She dropped her hand. "What brings you here today?" she asked.

"Can I…talk to you?" he asked.

"You're my Boss, of course," Haru said.

Tsuna grimaced at her response. "I'm your friend first, Haru," he said.

"You face tells me you're not coming here as my friend," Haru said and grasped his wrist and tugged him into motion before letting it go.

Today Tsuna was wearing a pair of jeans and a hoodie with the number twenty-seven on the back and front panel. Namimori Junior High had made attendance in the last remaining classes of the school year voluntary for the third years. Tsuna had been attending most of them to get in his last few days with Kyoko, but Haru could tell there was something else on his mind today.

"Did you already know Kyoko was going to Okinawa?" Tsuna asked her.

"I knew in July," Haru replied. "She didn't want to tell you until the end. It probably would have made the exam even harder for you if you'd known, don't you think?"

Tsuna scrubbed his hand through his hair and colored. "Maybe," he muttered.

"At least in Okinawa she'll be mostly safe," Haru said. "The Vongola presence down there isn't as big. It's more of a war zone for the Japanese Clans and the American Mob."

"That doesn't really make me feel better Haru," Tsuna scowled.

"They won't even know Kyoko has anything to do with the Vongola down there and the area where her parents are moving is quiet," Haru said. "I looked into it when I studied with Lady Tomi over winter break."

"You did?" Tsuna blinked in surprise.

"Yeah, she's my best friend you know," Haru said with a smile. "I'm not going to just let her situation go unassessed. Lady Tomi introduced me to a few agents down there so I can keep an ear to the ground in case of problems."

"Speaking of assessing situations…"

Haru managed to keep herself from tensing—this was probably it.

"Hmmm?" Haru prompted.

"You already know what I'm going to ask, don't you?" Tsuna stated.

"Say the words, Judaime," she said. "Then we'll see if we're thinking the same thing."

"I don't like doing this," Tsuna muttered. "You're a high school student; you shouldn't have to deal with this stuff."

"What stuff?" Haru asked.

"The Mafia, other Families, keeping an eye on things…" Tsuna trailed off. "My dad already talked to you, didn't he?"

"He mentioned a couple possibilities," Haru replied.

"If there was anyone else I could remotely trust, I wouldn't be asking this of you," Tsuna said.

"I know," she replied.

Tsuna stopped and took a deep breath. "Will you watch Namimori for me while I'm gone?" he blurted out.

Haru's footsteps paused and she turned around to look at the Vongola Decimo. That furrow was back again and she shook her head. "Ten years," she reminded him.

"Haru."

There was a touch of desperation in Tsuna's voice and Haru finally relented. "I've already been putting things into place on the chance you'd ask that," she said. "Of course I'll watch over Namimori for you. Gokudera watches after Judaime, I watch after Judaime's heart, right? And Namimori is close to your heart as is Kyoko and the others here."

"Are you sure?" Tsuna asked.

Haru watched him for a long moment. "You kind of want me to say no, don't you?"

"It's dangerous and you could get hurt and…" Tsuna trailed off.

"But if I don't more people will get hurt," Haru said. "It's okay."

"No it's not okay," Tsuna growled, "but I don't have a choice…"

Haru's hand settled on Tsuna's clenched fist and she squeezed it lightly. "Haru will do her best to be a proper Mafioso agent," she said, dropping into her old speech format.

"H-Haru…" Tsuna stuttered.

"More seriously, just leave it to me," Haru smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "I've got this."

Tsuna shivered. "Somehow or another that doesn't give me a whole lot of confidence, Haru…"

She giggled and then sobered. "If you didn't trust me to do this, you wouldn't have asked, would you, Judaime?"

Tsuna sighed, Haru only called him Judaime now when she was being her dead serious mafia hitman self. "You're right, of course," he said.

"Then have a little faith in your instincts and your Inner Circle," Haru smiled. "Would you like to go get some ramen? My treat. You'll be leaving soon won't you?"

"In a week," Tsuna said.

"That soon?" Haru's voice dropped to a near whisper.

"Do you want me to tell Gokudera to stay behind?" Tsuna asked her.

Haru shook her head. "No, you need him."

"What about you?" Tsuna asked.

"There's e-mail…voice conferencing…phone calls…"

Haru's voice caught a bit on the last words and she shook her head furiously to dispel the tears that were trying to come. She had to reassure Tsuna right now.

"Let's go have cake," she beamed.

"I thought we were going for ramen," Tsuna said.

"Cake is always better," Haru said firmly.


	12. Epilogue: What the Storm Leaves Behind

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **And so junior high for the Vongola 10th Generation ends and their futures begin.

I know this one wasn't quite as action packed as my other stories in the "Future Revised" Series have been, but I had to get through all the events that happened because they were kind of important, but would have dragged "Oncoming Storm" out far too long and slowed the pace too much.

**Katekyo Hitman Reborn!** is the property of Akira Amano and all the actual characters belong to her. The original characters and storyline created for "Future Revised" are created by my overactive imagination and my wish to see KHR carried out even further (and to develop Haru to the potential I saw with her when I first watched the series so long ago).

Thank you for staying with me all the way until the end.

* * *

**Target XX-03: What the Storm Leaves Behind**

"Haru?"

Haru started as Gokudera's voice echoed across the room and quickly dashed away the tears and taking a deep breath before turning to face him with a bright smile pasted into place. "Good evening, Gokudera," she said with forced cheerfulness. "Is everything squared away for the flight tomorrow?"

"Yes. We'll be leaving after lunch to go to the airport and catch a plane to Italy," Gokudera said.

"I hope you'll have a safe journey. You'll text me when you get there right, no matter what time it is here in Japan?" Haru asked, turning back and folding the picture of them in the maroon t-shirt before she put it in his bag.

"Haru…"

His voice was closer now and Haru forced herself to continue working on packing up the things that would be going with him to Italy. She was going to be keeping his apartment to use as a base of operations—it could be secured a little more easily than trying to explain to her father what the changes around the house were from. Tsuna's family house had already been sold and there wasn't really anywhere else that wouldn't raise eyebrows around town if they tried to figure out how a high school girl was affording a place.

A pair of warm hands closed around her shoulders and Haru felt herself pulled back into the familiar warmth of Gokudera's chest. "Stop pretending you're okay," he ordered softly. "I know you're not."

Haru stiffened, willing herself not to lean into him. "Would you rather I broke down, cried, and begged you not to leave?" she demanded.

"At least it would be more honest," Gokudera retorted.

Haru turned in his arms and glared up at him. "And it wouldn't make a bit of difference. You're still going to go to Italy with Judaime no matter what. I don't want your last memory of me to be that pathetic."

He cupped her cheek and tilted her head upwards, meeting her brown eyes with gray green eyes that reflected his own sadness. "You have no idea how difficult this is," he whispered and leaned down and kissed her softly.

Haru fought the tears for another moment and then they began to pour down her cheeks. "I don't want either of you to go," she whispered, her fingers tangling in Gokudera's shirt. "Can I even handle all of this Gokudera?"

"You can," Gokudera said, his other hand smoothing through her hair and down to her waist as he pulled her in closer. "I trained you, remember? I'm the best."

Haru giggled in spite of herself. She was keenly aware of the odd emptiness that was filling her more as every second passed ticking away the time that was left for them on Japanese shores.

He urged her face up again and pressed his forehead against hers. "You _can_ do this and we'll be back before you know it, just watch."

Haru closed her eyes. "Does that come with a written guarantee?" she asked and then shifted and captured his lips with hers, drawing him in deeper to the kiss.

"You know it doesn't, Haru," Gokudera replied after they parted.

"It was worth a shot anyway," she said. "I've already told Father I was staying over at a friend's tonight."

Gokudera's arms tightened around her.

"When you get up to leave in the morning, don't wake me up. I don't want to cry again."

"Haru?"

Gokudera's breath caught as she tangled her hand with his. "Please?"

"I…" he trailed off and then simply gave in. "Okay."

The next morning, Haru woke up to an empty bed and turned over, her arm flopping to the cold side of the mattress. She made an exclamation of pain as her wrist connected with something hard and brown eyes landed on the maroon shirt her arm landed on. She sat up in the bed and pulled it to her, there was a scrap of paper sitting on the top and she read it:

_It's my favorite shirt. I'll be coming back for it._

Haru couldn't help the giggle that escaped her and pulled out the picture that had been secured inside and stared at it for a long moment. Gokudera had switched the picture of him and her for another one. It was a shot of the entire group somehow or another even including Hibari and Mukuro along with Kyoko, Chrome, the kids, and all the others.

She held the photograph against her chest and closed her eyes, willing the tears that tried to come back. "No matter what," she promised, "I'll keep Namimori safe until we can all be back together again."

#

"So Tsuna-kun really went to Italy?"

Kyoko's question came two days later as the girls sat a table at their favorite cake shop indulging in one last 'self appreciation day' before the Kyoko left.

"Yes, his father had business there and decided it was time to have his family with him again," Haru said.

"Haru…" Kyoko scowled.

"Family in every sense of the word, Kyoko-chan," Haru said.

"Are you okay?" Kyoko asked.

Haru felt tears well up in her eyes and dashed them away. "Yes, I'm fine," she said, "or at least I will be. Gokudera did what he felt he had to do and I will do what I need to do."

"You'll just be enjoying your high school life, right?" Kyoko asked.

"You already know the answer to that one, Kyoko-chan," Haru said.

"I can always hope, right?" Kyoko smiled.

Haru chuckled. "For all intents and purposes, that's my plan at present. If things get derailed, it won't be because I didn't try."

Kyoko dug her fork into the creamy strawberry cake and brought the bite to her mouth. "I'm going to miss this place so much," she said wistfully.

"You'll have to experiment at the shops around where you're going to live," Haru said. "Then when I come to visit, you can take me to the best ones."

"I like that idea," Kyoko said. "So you'll come to visit me?"

"When I can, I promise," Haru replied.

#

Haru posed with her friends as pictures were snapped of them proudly displaying their diplomas. Everywhere Haru looked, she saw people gathering together and the hole left in her by her friends' departures yawned wider. She'd been able to attend the ceremony and congratulate Kyoko, Chrome, and Yamamoto as the Namimori Junior ceremony was the day before the Midori ceremony, but her friends hadn't be able to attend hers. Chrome had once again been swept up by Mukuro and Kyoko's parents had given her just enough time after the ceremony to change into something comfortable before they piled into the moving truck—Kyoko's father's first day would be on Monday and he wanted to have most of the house settled out before he went.

"It's going to be weird not to see you in the Midori uniform."

The words made Haru jump and she turned to see Yamamoto leaning casually against the tree that she'd met Tsuna under a few times and Gokudera many times. The baseball player shoved away from the trunk and smiled at her. "You look like you need some cheering up," he noted. "Want to go hit some baseballs?"

Haru chuckled. "Not particularly. The last time we did that I wound up with a black eye."

"The machine was messed up, they've fixed it now," he said.

"I'll still pass," Haru said.

He guffawed. "Then how about some sushi to celebrate?" he asked. "I know you're going out with your dad tonight to celebrate, but he doesn't get off work for a while, right?"

"I'm okay, Yamamoto," Haru said. "I promise."

"How about for me then?" he asked. "It's been boring without Gokudera and Tsuna around and sempai is in Okinawa with his family until school starts again."

"Well, since you asked so nicely, why not?" Haru said. "Akai is off dealing with Hanatachi business."

The two chuckled and headed for Yamamoto's family's shop and entered. Tsuyoshi Yamamoto smiled at the two and gestured towards one of the unoccupied booths. It was getting towards the end of lunch and the restaurant was starting to clear out.

"Oh, Takeshi, your uniform arrived," Tsuyoshi said. "It's up in your room. Try it on to make sure it fits."

"I will in a bit, Pops," he said.

"Now, Takeshi. I need to know if we need to get alterations made," Tsuyoshi frowned.

Yamamoto laughed and gave Haru an apologetic look. "I'll be right back."

"No problem," Haru said and gave Yamamoto's dad quiet thanks as he put some green tea in front of her.

"Any friend of Takeshi's is welcome here, you know that already Miura-san," he said, "though it'll be less lively around here without the others."

"Yeah, it will," Haru agreed.

She sipped the tea and picked at the sushi in front of her even though it was her favorite, Tsuyoshi had memorized all of the Vongola's favorites. Haru watched him work and chat with some of the last customers; she was no closer to getting answers about how much he knew about them than she had been at the beginning of the summer. All of her contacts so far had come up with nothing or if someone knew they weren't telling.

"Ah, it looks good. A bit tight across the shoulders though, we'll have to get that fixed."

Tsuyoshi's words jarred Haru out of her contemplations and she turned and her jaw dropped.

"That's a Takanamori uniform!"

Yamamoto gave her a sheepish smile. "Well, yeah," he said. "They have a better baseball team than Namimori and their coach scouted me out and talked me into trying there instead. Besides we're part of the same team, we've got to man the field together."

Something loosened in Haru's stomach and she smiled at Yamamoto. "I guess so," she said.

Even though Gokudera, Tsuna, and Kyoko weren't going to be there, the new school year suddenly seemed a lot less intimidating.

* * *

**END NOTE**: Thank you for taking the time to read this story and the others. I really appreciate it and the feedback that I've gotten over the course of writing these stories.

"The Future Revised" series will continue on May 3rd (because Haru's birthday seems oddly appropriate) with **Flowers in Namimori**:

_Haru is facing the coming year at Takanamori High with dread. Kyoko has moved to Okinawa and Gokudera and Tsuna moved to Italy leaving a large void in the crime world of Namimori. Rumors abound of organizations formerly held in check by the strong Vongola presence stirring trouble and Haru must find a way to hold them (and the Vongola 10th Gen Cloud Guardian) in check. Further complicating matters is the arrival of Chiharu Ishida, the youngest daughter of the Ishida Clan in Kyoto, who will be residing in the Miura household for the duration of high school Is she friend or foe? Haru isn't sure, but one thing she does know is that she won't be "enjoying her high school" life as Kyoko so earnestly wished._

For those who have missed the action-packed stories that came before **Season's End**, I promise you aren't going to be disappointed in the newest installment.

If you've had enough of my world, thank you for coming along as far as you did.

May you find wonderful fictions in the future that spark your imagination and continue to feed your love for your favorite series ^_^

Regards,

Yuki Seki


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